One woman thought she may have had a simple insect bite in the groin – but it was actually a small fly dug into her skin

• A woman returned from a trip to Belize with a human larva (a.k.a. Dermatobia hominis) deep in his skin, reported LiveScience.

• The doctors eventually removed the larvae surgically.

• This type of infestation is rare in the United States, but is common in some tropical areas.

• A human botfly larva can live in human skin for up to 128 days.

• Warning: This message contains graphic images.

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A 36-year-old Florida woman came back from a short trip to Belize with a memory that stirs the stomach: a fly larva dug beneath the surface of her skin. The story of this woman is detailed in a report published Oct. 7 in the Journal of Investigative Medicine's High Impact Case Journal, reports LiveScience.

The woman returned home after her trip with a small irritating and irritated bump in the left groin area. She thought she may have had an ordinary insect bite, but she was not quite sure, the authors of the case report wrote.

But two months after the end of her trip, she had not left, even after she had been treated with antibiotics prescribed by her doctor. The woman decided to seek a second opinion at a wound treatment center.

In an interview with LiveScience, Dr. Enrico Camporesi, wound healing specialist at Memorial Hospital in Tampa, Fla., And one of the doctors who treated the woman, said the bump looked small, with pus coming from a hole in the center. Camporesi also noticed that it was hard to touch. He feared it was a swollen lymph node and referred the woman for surgical care.

A surgeon opened the lump, removed a foreign object trapped inside and sent it to a pathology lab. It was at this moment that the mysterious hump was finally identified as a human larva.

You can see a photo of the protuberance and larva in the photos of the case report below:

Barely a week later, when the woman returned to the wound treatment center for a follow-up appointment, her skin was completely healed.

Infestations of human botfly are common in some tropical areas

The authors wrote in the case report that cases of human fly infestation are rare in the United States, but that they are "very common" among residents and travelers in the tropical regions of the Americas .

How do the larvae actually enter the human skin? It starts when the adult female botfly lays its eggs on another insect, such as a mosquito or a fly, the report explained. Then, if this intermediate insect stings a human, the heat of the skin can cause the eggs to hatch and the larvae dig a burrow under the surface of the skin, creating a small hole called punctum through which they can breathe. Once under the skin, the larva does not migrate very far but can remain in place between 27 and 128 days, wrote the authors. In some cases, the report adds, some people may feel the larva move when they shower or cover the wound.

According to the case report, surgical removal is the "treatment of choice" for the integrated botfly larva, but the authors also note that many cases can be treated by the patients themselves.

In Belize, for example, people smother the larvae by covering the punctum with non-breathable substances, such as petroleum jelly, bacon bits, nail polish or plant extracts, the report says.

As a rule, three to 24 hours later, "the larvae will emerge head first, looking for air. At that time, a tweezers can be used to physically extract it or apply pressure around the cavity, "the authors wrote.

This aspect of infestation with virus flies is a source of pleasure for some people: YouTube is full of videos on the removal of fly larvae. In the same way that push-button enthusiasts like to watch pus and oil get stuck out of the pores, some viewers are happy to watch larvae of nose flies pull themselves out of their skin. Many of these videos have generated several million views. (But be warned: these sagas are not made for delusions.)

If you think you have a fly larva in your skin, consult a doctor.

If you think you have myiasis – the medical term used to describe fly larva infection – contact a health care provider to get the appropriate treatment, which may include surgery and medications, depending on Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

You can also take steps to prevent myiasis if you live or visit places where this is more common, says the CDC. Cover your skin to limit the area open to insect bites; use an insect repellent, mosquito nets and mosquito nets; and iron all clothes that have been dried on a clothesline in the tropics.

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