Re: Worse than Chiggers - BOTTFLIES!!
Doug Kern (dkern1@mail.idt.net)
Mon, 29 Jul 1996 21:05:40 -0400 (EDT)
>Adrian,
>
>>To complicate this rather exotic thread a little further,
>>Fernando, it sounds a little as if you may have come across what
>>the Africans know as tumbu fly (it has other names too, some rather
>>less pleasant). This particular fly has a habit of laying eggs on
>>washing drying in the sun. If the washing is not ironed
>>thoroughly, when you put on the clothes, the eggs hatch and the
>>larvae burrow into the nearest flesh...
>
> I know exactly what you mean, we have them in Brazil too. I
>was informed by Ed Read from L.A. that in English they are called
>bottflies. Usually cattle and dogs get them, but people do too. And to
>answer your questions, YES I have gotten this one too, and 2 of them!
>Only this time I got one on each thigh (THANK GOD!!), and not in any
>awkward part of the body. And by what I know, the fly can just lay the
>egg on you, it doesn't have to be on your clothes. Apparently they like
>laying them on hairy animals, so people usually get it on their heads. In
>my case, being of mixed Mediterranean ancestry, I guess they liked my
>hairy legs!!
>
This sounds veery similar to the Screw-Worm Fly (Cochliomyia
hominivorax) which used to be common on the Mid to Southern US Eastern
States. The fly would lay it's eggs on a scabed area, inot which the
maggots would burrow into the wound. They would feed there, opening the
wound up to infection and causing more damge, until they would burrow out
of the wound, drop off the host, and pupae in the ground. This atrictive
animal is also known to lay eyes near nasal membranes, which can cause a
fatal wound in a lot of cases, and disfigurment in most. Luckily this
insect has been eliminated from a lot of the ares it used to be found in.
Doug Kern
dkern1@mail.idt.net