Tourist has maggots surgically removed

Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Location: In the Goatshed in Melbourne

Tourist has maggots surgically removed

By staff writers July 04, 2008 10:47am

A BRITISH tourist, who was forced to have maggots surgically removed, has described the terrifying ordeal as like having "baby crabs growing inside me".

Petrified Alan Evans and his wife Karen went under the surgeon's knife after a mosquito laid eggs beneath their skin during a recent trip to Gambia.

The couple – from Bristol in England – returned home to find the little stings had grown into throbbing boils, and when Mr Evans inspected his invaders through a magnifying glass, he saw they were wriggling.

"At one point it looked like a crab's claw, and I was petrified I had baby crabs growing inside me. It was terrifying," Mr Evans told the Western Daily Press.

When antibiotics failed to help the condition, a consultant diagnosed Mr Evans and his wife with the rare disease Myiasis, contracted by an infestation of parasitic larvae.

Four of his unwelcome guests were cut out surgically, and he squeezed the rest out himself.

"I was told there was a million-to-one chance of getting this," said Mr Evans.

"This is more common than you might think in people returning from Africa and South America," said Dr Ron Behrens, of the London Hospital of Tropical Diseases.

"It can occur in anyone. A mosquito drops the bot fly's eggs on to the skin.

"The pupae then burrow under the skin – often the scalp, legs or groin area – and feed off it, but stay close to the surface so they can breathe."

Dr Behrens said after a couple of weeks the maggots develop into flies, which is very unpleasant, but luckily it can be successfully treated.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23967480-5011960,00.html

I had a farkin fly lay maggots under the skin on the back of my hand once in the Blue Mountains Crying or Very sad

Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Location: NEWCASTLE, NSW

i seen a video of this the other day #Crazy

Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Location: Townsville

Bot fly larvae are not like normal fly maggots and yes it is very common in south america and mexico. A common method to remove them is wait till they grow to a cm or longer then cover the sore with a piece of rotten meat (they eat dead flesh like most maggots) and they will come to the surface to feed on the meat. Then remove the meat and quickly grab the larvae before they retreat.

disturbing vids can be found on youtube.

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:00 am

I once had to remove maggots from a horses neck... *highly* retch-inducing... Shocked

Joined: 13 Jan 2006 Location: Newcastle

When Dad was in the Army and was based up in Townsville he was out on an exercise during summer and he fell off the edge of a cliff..(should have jumped right instead of left kinda thing) and banged his hand up pretty bad but not bad enough for him to seek outside medical help. By the time the exercised finished he had maggots eating his dead flesh off the back of his hand.

Really icky kind of thing but it kept the infection out which can be bad up in the tropics.

As to the Bot flies..my skin is crawling just at the thought of having maggots living under my skin...

Reminds me of a song...Ive got youuuuu...under my skin... Crying or Very sad