[ad_1]
Imagine returning from your tropical vacation with a fly in your groin.
That's what happened to a 36-year-old woman from Tampa who ended up at Tampa General Hospital two months after her trip to Belize, according to a study published this month in the newspaper. Journal of Investigative Medicine High Impact Case Reports. She told the doctors that she thought she had been bitten by an insect, which could have caused the lesion and a red rash around the groin. She had been riding in Belize and had a tick on her back.
Before going to the hospital, the woman consulted her family doctor who prescribed an antibiotic. She took it as indicated, but the lesion was not completely cleaned.
Other than the irritated skin, she had no other symptoms, such as rashes on other parts of her body, chills, fatigue or fever. Tampa General's physicians initially thought that it could be a case of a cyst or ingrown hairs. But when the doctors tried to remove it, they did not succeed. She was referred to a local dermatologist for further evaluation.
The woman was found at the hospital, this time at Tampa Memorial, where a wound treatment specialist re-examined the lesion. The doctors proceeded to a procedure of extraction of the lesion, that is to say when they found a botfly larva embedded in its skin.
READ ALSO: The doctor removes the worm from Tampa's eye. "Fortunately, we caught it just in time"
Skin disorders are among the most common medical problems that occur after short visits to developing countries, especially the hottest, the study said. According to the report, infestations of developing larvae are the fourth most common travel-related skin disease. The human botfly, like the one found in the Tampa woman, comes from Central and South America, usually from Mexico to the north of Argentina.
The moral of the story: Sometimes it is good to ask for a second opinion.
Contact Justine Griffin at [email protected] or (727) 893-8467. Follow @SunBizGriffin.
[ad_2]
Source link