Beware of Flies
This week I would like to talk about a disease I came across while I was at work last week called Myiasis. This disease is quite disgusting compared to the ones discussed in my previous posts. Myiasis is an infection of the skin by developing fly larvae otherwise known as maggots. Myiasis can occur in several different parts of the body. Some of the most common sites of infection include the nose, sinuses, pharynx, eyes, both small and large intestines, and genitals. The Pathology of human infection differs depending on the type of type of fly and the mode of infection. Some of the common myiatic flies are the botfly, blowfly, and screwfly.
The type of Myiasis that I came across while at work
was cutaneous myiasis. Cutaneous myiasis is myiasis affecting the skin. There
are three types of cutaneous myiasis, furuncular myiasis, wound myiasis, and migratory
myiasis. Furuncular myiasis is mainly caused by the botfly. Botflies lay their
eggs on insects such as mosquitos, and when the mosquito takes a blood meal
from a human the eggs are deposited in the individual’s skin. Wound myiasis is
typically seen in homeless individuals. Wound myiasis occurs when a poorly
treated or open wound is infected with fly larvae. Once the larvae hatch, they begin
to feed on both necrotic and healthy tissue of the infected individual.
Migratory myiasis is most commonly seen in animals such as horses and cattle.
However, humans can also become infected by coming in contact with an infected
animal. Migratory myiasis occurs when fly larvae are planted on top of the skin
of a potential host. Once the larvae hatch they burrow under the skin causing
ulcers.
There are a few key symptoms that are associated with
cutaneous myiasis depending on the contracted form. When an individual has
contracted furuncular myiasis they experience furuncular lesions with
surrounding inflammation, prickly heat sensations accompanied by excessive
itching, and sharp stabbing pains. Individuals with wound myiasis experience
fever, chills, bleeding form infection site, and several secondary infections.
Migrating myiasis results in symptoms of mobile inflammatory papules, a sensation
of movement, and extreme burning.
How do you treat cutaneous Myiasis? It depends on the
severity of the infection. Depending on the location of the larvae, some larvae
can be extracted by applying pressure around the lesion. The most common mode
of treatment of cutaneous myiasis requires surgical removal of larvae by enlarging
the area of infestation and extraction with forceps. Antibiotics can also be used when treating
wound myiasis. A topical administration of 1% ivermectin in propylene glycol after
extensive debridement of the wound aids in the healing process.
Links: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3255963/
The two pictures shown are absolutely insane. I have seen quite a bit of this since it circulates on the internet a lot due to its absurd and frankly, gross visuals. I am always curious at how cases like the two shown, although that is likely why the homeless are usually the ones with such intense infections.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I saw this on Facebook before. It is SO crazy. This post was very interesting, I did not know anything about it until today! Great Job!
ReplyDeleteSeeing the picture at first hand made me not want to read your blog! However, I was really curious about how such a thing can happen because I have seen them in the internet. I can't imagine how you can see that in person. I definitely learned a lot, great blog!
ReplyDeleteI am extremely excited to see this! I came across a post about this bot flies on Facebook where they were popping the larva out of a dog. I was so interested that the rest of the day I was showing people and looking up other videos on YouTube. If you haven't gotten the chance to watch removal videos, you definitely should check it out. I had no idea that this was an actual disease.. now I can look up videos on this disease! Thanks for the information!
ReplyDeleteI was not expecting those pictures! I'm already kind of freaked out by bugs and this only makes it worse. I've also seen videos of dogs infested with bot flies and I've always found them interesting. Great research and an interesting blog!
ReplyDeleteWhere do you work?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm going to be sleeping anytime soon.... Assuming the cases in the pictures were extreme, how long were they left untreated? Overall great post because it definitely caught my attention.
ReplyDelete