botfly survivor stories

"Once, upon returning from Belize, I noticed that a small insect bite on my forearm, presumably from a simulid fly, was enlarging rather than healing. Periodically the wound would feel like tiny hot needles were turning within. I was harboring a larval botfly (Dermatobia hominis) that had grown from an egg transported by a bloodsucking fly that had bitten me in Belize. The botfly maggot had hatched on my skin, burrowed inside, and was now using me as a source of shelter and sustenance. As it enlarges, a botfly maggot creates an obvious skin lesion, a condition called "specific myiasis" (Markell and Voge 1971). If left unattended, within forty to fifty days the larval fly will emerge to pupate. Discomfort increases as the larva grows because the insect turns, and its body is covered with sharp spines. I chose to remove the little maggot by simply covering the lesion with petroleum jelly, preventing the larva from breathing (a tiny abdominal breathing tube remains in contact with the air, though the rest of the insect is burrowed--the jelly blocked the breathing tube). I squeezed the dead larva from my arm. I was also told that botfly larvae can be removed by taping a piece of meat, preferably bacon fat, over the wound. The larva usually migrates from the human to the meat. This technique has actually been described in the Journal of the American Medical Association, where it was reported that within three hours after application of bacon fat, botfly larvae had moved far enough out of the wound into the meat that they could be removed with tweezers (Brewer et al. 1993). Amazonian Indians have an innovative way to kill botfly larvae. They employ the green cashew nut, which grows in Amazonian forests and contains a highly toxic oil (which is why cashews must be well roasted before eating them). The nut is cut in half and rubbed on the skin at the site of the larva. The oil terminates the little maggot, which is then pulled from the skin (Plotkin 1993). Botflies are not uncommon throughout the Neotropics, and insect wounds that increase in size are suspect."

"We live on the Big Island of Hawaii and my husband was "hit" with botfly in his left eye. He went to the ER and they pulled out 16 larvae from his eye. That was 2 weeks ago. Now he is having severe nasal and sinus problems. The ER doctor told us that sometimes, although rare, the larvae can get into the nasal passages and grow. We suspect that this is the problem."

The love just keeps on happening

Posted by xtop at June 9, 2003 08:36 PM