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BOTFLY EMAIL STORIES
RECEIVED BETWEEN 2001 AND 2005 |
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Here is a song about botfly larva,
the title is |
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Hi,
I was led to this page: http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly.html the
other day by www.memepool.com
I was both fascinated and disgusted by the
stories about bot flies and related what I was reading to my girlfriend,
Heather, who was also grossed out. We participate in an
online music community called Songfight! (www.songfight.org)
and had decided to write a song for the upcoming fight (April 27 - May
4). After reading about bot flies, the title "A Very Unlikely
Occurrence" seemed to hold the most promise and Heather decided to
write lyrics about bot flies. And so, this song was born: http://www.future-boy.net/music/unlikely.mp3
Here are the lyrics in case you can't
understand the words:
We are bot fly larvae!
We like our dinners fresh! We are bot fly larvae! Feeding on your flesh! We burrow in your epidermis To warble as we please A very unlikely occurrence Unless traveling in Belize
Mosquitoes give us transference
We're carried on their knees Distance is no deterrence We find our prey with ease Cuz we are bot fly larvae! We like our dinners fresh! We are bot fly larvae! Feeding on your flesh! We'll dig into your scrota To grow our metanota Someday we'll pop right out And then you'll know what that oozing bump was all about! We are bot fly larvae! We like our dinners fresh! We are bot fly larvae! Feeding on your flesh!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe you
can find some other bot fly enthusiasts with which to share it.
Cheers,
Damien Di Fede
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| Below is the correspondence with Leon Higley. His site on Bug of the Week was the first Mark & I came upon on the internet regarding botfly's. | |
At 05:36 PM 4/11/2001 -0500, you wrote:
Brenda- |
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| 7/17/01 We too visited Arenal in CR this June. Upon return, my 8 year
old |
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| 10/5/01 Wow, that's quite a story...I must say, I never thought I would
hear one |
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| 11/29/01 I want to thank you for placing your account with the bot fly |
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| 11/29/01 Mine got me in Belize. Not sure where exactly. Probably hiking
in Blue |
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BY FAR MY MOST FAVORITE WRITTEN STORY 11/29/01 ...yes, it's true...I wasn't going to tell everyone John Chupp After responding to his story & here is his reply. Brenda, |
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| 5/16/02 Thank you for your very witty and useful website on Mark's
Human Botfly |
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| 7/19/02 Upon doing some research on human botfly, I came across your website. We live on the Big Island of Hawaii and my husband was "hit" with botfly in his left eye. He went to the ER and they pulled out 16 larvae from his eye. That was 2 weeks ago. Now he is having severe nasal and sinus problems. The ER doctor told us that sometimes, although rare, the larvae can get into the nasal passages and grow. We suspect that this is the problem. However, after reading your story, we are having similar things happen to us as far as the doctors not believing us. It is quite frustrating. I thought you'd be interested to know that, according to our ER doctor, the "botfly" is only found on the Big Island in the Western World. Lucky us! Denise Smith Swanhart |
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| 8/13/02 My wife and I honeymooned in Punta Islita the first week of
April, of this |
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| 10/9/02 Icthamol- aka as pine tar also works great. Apply , bandage and remove takes
about 2 days. I went to CR late August2002 , 4 weeks later I still had bites that looked
worse. I used this to draw it out, I thought maybe a stinger was left inside but, to
my surprise it was 2 larvae's. Took to the doctor and he classified as a botfly.
Please pass this on, I hate to see people getting cut open for nothing the icthamol works great. Marie Guarino Sunrise, Fl |
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| Dear Mark and Brenda, Rick and I want to thank you for your Botfly story. We returned from Belize November 16. While in Belize, we had hiked in the jungle on two separate occasions. While I had used insect repellent in my hair and scalp, Rick did not. About a week after we returned from Belize to Columbus, Ohio, Rick noticed bumps in his scalp that later began to itch. Then they started seeping. Then came the stabbing pain. By the time we thought he should do something about it, it was Thanksgiving weekend and impossible to see a doctor. So we called a pharmacist friend who said we should alternate cortisone cream with antibiotic cream. I also used a "bite stick" with ammonia in it on the bites." No improvement. On Monday, December 2, Rick went to his doctor, who diagnosed a bacterial skin infection, prescribing oral and topical antibiotics. By December 6 there was no improvement, and the pain would come at anytime with not warning and be excruciating. That evening, as Rick sat at the computer, blood began running down his head and side of his face from one of the holes/bites/what ever they were. I couldn't stand it any longer. I started searching on the internet. I used terms like "bleeding scalp" and found lots about head wounds. The next day I was going to go Christmas shopping, but I couldn't stand to see Rick in pain and with no improvement, so more internet searching supplanted the shopping (I made up for it by shopping on the web later). At the Center for Disease Control site, I started looking at different types of insects, came across the botfly and performed another search: "bacterial skin infection botfly Belize" and voila! your botfly article came up. I read it, printed it out (in full color) and took the papers in to Rick. "You're not going to like this," I said. First we tried meat taped onto his head (shaved portions of his head first) using painters tape and covered by a hat. When we removed the meat, we could find small bore holes in the meat but no larva. (It was great calling him "meathead" all weekend.) Then we moved on to Elmer's school glue. Seemed those little buggers could "eat" through the dried glue and breathe all the same. By Monday December 9, Rick had faxed your article to his doctor, who said
to try superglue. This did the trick. We had been afraid to kill the suckers
while still imbedded in the skin. Seems that superglue works because it dries so
fast, and you can glob it on. When we peeled back the superglue, part of the larva
was sticking out of the skin (must have been trying to |
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This email with a photo has been going around
but the information is wrong! Got this in a forwarded email. Is this a Bot Fly Larva? |
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| 10/14/02 Hi, John |
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| August 07, 2002 A couple of weeks
ago my 16 year old son returned from the Jungle in Peru. He has a lump on his head with a
whole it drains blood some puss. 3 doctors have looked at it and told us they don't
know what it is. Tonight I applied warm compress and gentle pressure have been doing this
for a week.) and all of a sudden the whole look like it got bigger and this live thing
shot out and landed on me. We put it in a bottle. |
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| July 4, 2002 Hi Brenda Thank you for all of your help!! This morning at the clinic I asked the one physician who speaks the best English if it was a bot fly, and she didn't think it was. She said there was no wormy looking larvae in it, and that it is probably a bacterial infection. All of my symptoms have been very similar to what you described as being the bot fly though. Yesterday a big core squeezed out and it seems to be getting much better ever since. Actually today it feels great and has reduced in size alot, I can actually touch it with out being in pain. I guess if it is a bot fly it will remain a mystery, I am just glad it is healing so I can enjoy my last few weeks in Costa Rica, I have had a wonderful time. Even the bot fly wouldn't stop me from coming back. Thanks again for all of your help. Janet Hollifield |
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| Feb. 24, 2002 I feel for you, especially since you and the wife had to
endure the stupid arrogance of doctors who won't let you help them out. I came home
with 8 in my back (From Belize, by a lake) out of which 7 were extracted by following the
traditional method of "airtight" goop suffocation followed be popping them out.
My boyfriend became excellent at it, bless his heart, and was trying to let the
doctors know as they insisted on digging for the last one themselves. Now I have a
nice size scar on my back. Not to mention, the last bot fly.... boyfriend got that
one out as well after it burrowed even deeper, escaping the scalpel. |
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| Feb. 24, 2002 Hi! My name is Maya Almaraz and I am a freshman at
the University of California, Berkeley. In January I went on a trip to Belize as
part of a research team out of UC Davis. We were trapping and tagging spinney pocket
mice and other small rodents in the rainforest to study their relation to seed dispersal
and germination. I have been back for about a month and |
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| Feb. 14, 2002 Hi there, Todd |
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| Jan. 24, 2002I am
originally from Belize, Central America, and a few years ago I went back to Belize to
visit and I was bitten by a botfly, and it was a very strange experience for me because I
lived in Belize for twenty years of my life and was never bitten by one but I have heard
of other people that worked in the jungle have and also my late father had been bitten
when he was working in the bush, he was a sawmill owner, so he was always in the jungle.
and so years later when I was bitten I was not sure if this was just a mosquito bite or
what because I was not in the bush/jungle but I was on a boat traveling down river, but I
wondered why my mosquito bite was not getting better, I noticed the spot was very
irritated and oozing and started to feel a biting I tried to take care of it on my own and
I thought it will get better eventually and it did not, I one night noticed that when I
squeezed it! s! something pulled back in, I saw a head and that is when I screamed
out and I told my husband to take me to the hospital because this was something live
inside of me and pretty freaky, off we went to the hospital and the doctor was freaked out
by this asked where I got this he has never seen anything like this before and said that
it may have to be removed surgically and he told me to call the science museum of Chicago
and find out what this was and I did and they had no idea but they were curious about it
and told me that when I get it removed to please contact them again but this is what I
did; if you want to know more about this please reply: Is the suspense getting to you!!! D
More from D regarding how her botfly was removed. Jan. 26, 2002 Hello again, well as the story continues regarding the botfly. I called a friend of mine from Belize and told her my situation with the botfly and she told me that her mother had some knowledge of what this could be and I called her mother right away and told her my story and so she said that she would help me; my husband took me over to her house and my friend's mom told me to lie down and that she will drip hot wax into the hole and that she will squeeze the area as hard as she can and cannot let go until the bug comes out and it certainly did, it hurt a lot ,it was about an inch long , with hair and looked well nourished (smile) she said oh my gosh why did you wait so long because this thing was so big already, anyway I saved it and I put it inside a jar along with some preservative so that the Science museum had told me to do and I was to meet this guy from the museum to give it! t! o him but that never happened so I still have it here at home with me and I often take it out and show it at parties and it freaked everyone out, pretty weird huh! Then a couple years after that my husband went diving with his brother to Belize went to San Pedro Ambergris Caye and he came back with one in his arm but we had our experience already and we were able to take it out of his arm by just squeezing the area and his was just a long black string, freaky! Anyway that's my story, if you want to know more about Belize feel free to ask, take care, D |
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| January 6, 2003 Brenda and Mark, I returned from Belize in mid-November. The upper lobe of my right ear started itching about two weeks later, and sharp pain followed the first week in December. I went to my GP, told him of my travels (not remembering any particularly nasty bites), and he told me I had a bacterial infection. A shot and course of antibiotics followed with no improvement. A week later I was back, but this time the Doc says it must be the Shingles. Anti-viral medication was started, and in three days lab tests came back negative. But believe it or not, after two days on anti-viral, the sharp pains were gone. I took the medication for four days, and was off for another four days when the pain returned. Back to the Doctor. This time he wants to refer me for a biopsy to rule out cancer. I got him to give me another weeks worth of the anti-viral, and called an Ear Nose and Throat specialist myself. It took me two weeks to get in due to the holidays, and by my appointment (January 3 ), I was enduring longer and more frequent bouts of pain (Seems to me the little guy was more active at night). The Specialist took one look and said whatever it is we need to drain it and clean it out. So on Saturday the fourth, a short six weeks after returning from Belize, the Doc cut me open and pulled out what appeared to be a blood clot, until it moved. Instant relief. Still can't explain why the anti-viral took the edge off the pain though. All in all an interesting experience for someone who did undergraduate work in entomology, specializing in agricultural insect pest control in California. My colleagues will never let me live this one down. Mike Kennedy |
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Jan. 14, 2003
Wanted to write and thank you for your website. I went to Belize in December '02 and came back with a bite that wouldn't heal.
Finally decided to make an appointment with
a doctor and the botfly must've heard me because this very morning I was
able to pull it out (painfully!) It was about 1" long.
I was severely grossed out and of course
have never seen anything like this in my life. Googling 'worm,
skin and bore' I came up with screw worms and botflies which eventually
led me to your site.
So now I am armed with info from your site
that I will bring to my doctor anyway in case there is infection.
Thanks again for hosting the site, its an
invaluable resource. It also appears that Belize is one of the
more popular hangouts for these creatures from your reader feedback.
Jim
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Jan. 18, 2003
Brenda-
Thank you for sharing Mark's botfly experience: the pain,
humor, lyrics, native remedies, and medical experience and information.
If only I'd known of your website sooner I might have saved myself weeks
of medical mystery. It was only after the my little companion was
determined to be a botfly larvae that I talked to my sister Abi who has
spent a lot of time traveling in the remote regions of Central and South
America. She was quite familiar with bot flies and turned me on to
your website. So here's my story.
In mid November 2002 my wife Bonnie and I spent a week
traveling in Costa Rica. We were a few days at Arenal and vicinity
and a few days on the beaches of the Pacific coast. Arenal volcano
was spectacular and our guide kept reiterating how fortunate we were to
see it; for most of the time it is hidden in the clouds.
About three weeks after we got home [Boston area] from a
relaxing week of hiking, exploring, and lounging on the beach I noticed
a sore on the shin of my right leg. I had no idea how it got
there; no recollection of scrapes or bruises. It was itchy and
looked a bit like a bug bite that has been scratched. The surrounding
area was red. I didn't think much of it at the time, but two
weeks later when it still hadn't healed and was clearly infected I
started getting concerned and went to see a dermatologist. He
prescribed an antibiotic cream and antibiotic pills. I delayed
taking the antibiotic pills because of a concern about drug interactions
with the immunosuppressant medications I am as the result of a kidney
transplant two years ago. It took me nearly a week to reach the doctor
again to get clarification about the safety of his prescription. [
It didn't help that all of this was happening over the Christmas and New
Years week when doctors are notoriously inaccessible].
All this time the sore was getting worse and oozing almost constantly.
In addition to the itching that I had at the beginning, I had throughout
occasional sharp stinging pains usually of only a second or two
duration.
On the night of January 3rd the pains were frequent and
intense keeping me awake for a good part of the night. By noon the
next day, Saturday Jan. 4th, my whole right leg below the knee was
extremely inflamed and very red and hot. We headed to the
emergency room at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The doctors there, knowing that I was a transplant patient on immunosuppressant
drugs, took one look at me and said I needed to
stay in the hospital and be on intravenous antibiotics to clear up what
they called cellulites. I spent five days there on the IV with my
legs elevated as much as I could tolerate. After the five days
they sent me home with a PICC line in my arm and automated infusion pump
for another week of IV antibiotics. The nasty looking sore on my
leg was clearing up, but I still had a quarter inch diameter crater on
my leg to which each day I applied a dab of Bacitracin and a bandage.
You can only imagine my surprise when on last Thursday
morning [Jan 16] I removed the bandage to find a worm crawling out of
the hole in my leg. My wife was totally grossed out and swore
she'd never go to a tropical country again. As I was getting ready
to go to the hospital to have it removed, it fell out. I put it -
still very alive and wiggling- in a small jar to take to my doctor.
The worm [larvae] was a dirty white color about 3/16" in diameter
and 1/2 -3/4" long. The doctor at first thought that it was a
hookworm, but sent it out for analysis which determined that it was a
botfly larvae.
The botfly is found throughout Central and South
American. Part of its reproductive cycle requires living in the
body of a warm blooded host [me]. The female [not wanting to take
responsibility for its actions] lays its eggs on the belly of mosquitoes
and other biting insects. When the mosquito bites a person, the
person's body heat is enough to cause a tiny larvae to hatch from one of
the eggs. The larvae then burroughs into the body, leaving itself
an air hole so that it can breath [and I can ooze]. After 6-8
weeks if left undisturbed the full grown larvae emerges in order to
pupate and become a botfly and begin the life cycle all over again.
So, not only had I brought home from Costa Rica a
souvenir I was unaware of, but in the process I got an unplanned for
lesson in entomology.
Nathan Rome
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January 27, 2003
Thanks for your time and efforts in constructing a comprehensive website devoted to Mark's "twins". After reading your story and knowing what we went through with our dog, I'm changing vets.
We recently moved to NC ~ the Smokey
Mountains. Scenic this, lovely that, look at the woods, you know
the ads. One Thursday night our Elkhound [dog] was licking
her side constantly, enough to disturb our sleep and make us
quite aggravated. After two days she had the fur/hair matted down
pretty good. We then saw the "wound" and thought it was
a b-b imbedded in her side. The wound was red, round, and
raised it had an opening and was seeping. Of course this was now
Sunday afternoon of a holiday weekend.
Our lively stealth guard dog was not
herself. Mopy, dry nose and eyes. She didn't raise her head
when the squirrels teased her. I was positive she was shot, maybe
buck shot infection/poisoning. She let me apply some drawing salve
[pine tar] and gauze to the wound. By this time it was seeping
steadily, very inflamed and very warm.
You've seen and heard it all, so I'll cut to
the chase. Monday afternoon I was able to squeeze the wound [must
be a girl thing to squeeze things] after two squeezes you guessed it,
the larvae came popping out. Put specimen into a container to
bring to the vet on Tuesday.
He took one look at it and very
professionally proclaimed oh, it's just a wolf worm. Very
common for this area ~ oh really. Then why couldn't I find
anything on the internet or vet reference books regarding a
"wolf worm"? I threw that diagnosis into the trash with
the "your beagle has mange and your other dog won't get it"
diagnosis. Beagle had "hot spots", Elkhound had botfly
larvae.
Animal Planet
aired a special on
parasites and we immediately identified the culprit in the lineup.
Decided to do some internet learning and read of your plight. I'm
not too sure I was glad to read of a human's experience because I
learned of the pain and agony our family pet endured. She'll get a
few extra treats tonight ~ she won't know why, but I'll feel better.
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My email to Dan....
Thanks for writing about your poor doggies ordeal. Glad the website was able to help in some way. That is what the site is intended for. Mark & I think the type of botfly was a rabbit botfly that got your elkhound. There are many different kinds of botflys. Mark is found in Central America and called a human botfly. I am not an authority on botfly's though by NO means, just read alot about it. Sometimes the larva's are called "beef worms", never heard the term wolf worm though. Don't blame you for getting a different vet, with two wrong diagnoses, sounds like he needs to study more. My Mothers cousin lived in Belize for several years & said it was very common for their pets to get bitten. They used axle grease to cover the air hole, then did as you did squeezing it out. Of course they thought nothing of it & were amused by Marks story, as most folks are.
I have done a website on my botfly emails.
Do you mind if I include yours?
Thanks again for writing & give your dog
a treat for me as well. I love animals.
Brenda Johnstone
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Dan's reply....
Please include my e-mail. In searching
your site and links I found one reference to a wolf worm.
Apparently a young child (under 5) had symptoms similar to Mark's.
The grandfather had stated all along that it looked like a wolf worm.
Our local taxidermist said the hunters here
call it deer worm, but the wound is found primarily on the head near the
joining of the antlers.
Thanks again for your time and efforts. Axle
grease eh?
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February 3, 2003 Brenda and Mark,
Thanks
to you and all your
contributors, this site gave me a lot of comfort during my botfly
ordeal. My wife and I
traveled to
I was hardly concerned when I noticed a few mosquito bites after a jeep safari into the rain forest. I expected they would disappear, and they did, except three bumps on my leg and one on my back. These were large bumps with an oozy hole in the top. Two weeks after the event I was able to push out of one of the bites what looked like the stinger end of a bee. This bump then started to heal rapidly.
Three weeks into the event, I started to get sharp pains in the other bites. One morning I pressed hard on another bump and out came a live wiggling larva (what a freaky thing this is). I took the specimen to my doctor who correctly diagnosed the botfly larve and told me to smother the remaining two bites with Vaseline to cover the breathing hole, wait several hours, and then push them out. This worked! My wife gets the 'top trooper' award for assisting on the bite on my back.
Its like remembering some bad Sci-Fi movie, but really there were no lasting side effects. Will I keep traveling? To South America? You betcha!
- D Snow Email to Dave....
Dave,
You are so lucky to be able to squeeze
them out & not have them cut out, not to even mention the fact
that the Doctor knew what they were! Do you mind if I add your email
to my website?
Thanks for sharing your story.
Brenda Johnstone
His reply....
You
are so right about the not having to have them removed. My
doctor was so thrilled to have something new and exciting to do... I,
on the other hand, just wanted them OUT. J
Please
add me to the website, it helped me to see that there were several
people that had to endure the ordeal.
Keep
up the good work!
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I
emailed the botfly website to David Letterman show, hoping to get Mark an
interview. Here is the rejection
email from the Late Show with David Letterman. |
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Dear
Brenda, Sincerely, Celia
Converse |
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| March 21, 2003
Hi Brenda Thank you for replying. I also meant to put in my story that it
was thanks Your welcome Annette. |
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March 31,
2003
I too was
bitten and had to have surgery to remove my friend who I brought back from
a cruise with an 8 hour stop in Costa Rica. After reading all
of the stories mine is similar to several of them...except for the bitten
area which is close to where Mark was bitten but I am a female so lets say
it was about 6 inches below the belly button. MAY MayzieK @aol.com |
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Brenda: Here's what a bush doctor said works wonderfully: ================ Just take a little tobacco -- or even heavily camphorated oil soaked in a small cotton packing -- tape over vent hole -- the worm comes out -- 8 hour later pull off the tape -- voila -- one grub -- no infection -- everything OK. I tell people here to apply "Tiger Balm" to every "bite" -- as soon as they know it. Tiger Balm is rich in camphor. ============ Might want to put that onto the page. he deals with them all the time.... Marty |
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April 29, 2003
After spending 10 days in the jungles of Belize, I returned home with two 'bites' on my butt. Thinking they were spider bites I left them alone only to have them get bigger and painful. About 4 weeks after getting back from Belize I went to see a doctor. He didn't really know what they were, but suggested soaking them in warm water with Epsom salt.
Well, I soaked in a tub of very hot water (
about as hot as could stand ) with Epsom salt for 45 minutes before
I went to bed. The next morning.....surprise! Both bite areas had the
dead larvae sticking out and both were thus very easy to express. I was
too shocked and fascinated to be disgusted.
I guess the combination of being soaked
under water that was also very hot killed them.
Just thought this may interest your readers
as another possible way to get rid of them.
Loved your web site.
Thanks, David
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May 6, 2003 Brenda, I am a special forces medic. I am in Bolivia right now. I saw the coolest thing yesterday. I was in a village when I was able to witness and film a bot fly larvae extraction. no one knew what it was, except the village people. I knew from my peculiar training exactly what it was. I just thought it was real neat to see it in person. it was on the top of 12 year old males head. it was about 1 inch long. they injected hydrogen peroxide in it. they say it kills it and/or forces it to come out. they were correct. that thing did not want to be in there after that. I wanted to read some more and found your site. maybe one day you can see the rare footage I shot. AC |
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May 6,2003
Thank you very much for your web page. After four weeks of pain and doctors assuming I had a scalp infection we finally figured out I had 5 botfly sites. Your web page helped me to understand the nasty critter and determine a procedure for extraction. Mine were from Costa Rica.
Thanks,
Barbara
Thanks for writing
Barbara. How did you get them out? I just got an email today from a
medic in Bolivia who filmed a 12 yr old getting larva's removed from
his head. They used hydrogen peroxide. What procedure did you have
done to have them removed? What area of Costa Rica do you think you
were bitten at? Mark knows it was near Volcano Arenal. Costa Rica is a
very beautiful country, having experienced botflys will not keep us
from going back.
Thanks again for the
email.
Brenda Johnstone
Hi Brenda,
I stayed in Arenal, but
I also stayed in Monteverde and Puntarenas. I was on
a hiking/birding tour so we were out in other areas in
between. I think I got the bites when we were staying in
Monteverde.
Mine were extracted with the help of
several doctors in an outpatient clinic. The first one was
taken out during a biopsy which was being done to determine what was
wrong with my scalp. They discovered the air hole after the
biopsy and mutilated the larva as they tried to get it out leaving
some of it inside. They wanted pathology to figure out what it
was. At that point we didn't know about bot flies. We
are watching that site carefully for infection. Then they sent
me home with the other four still living in my scalp! The next
day they successfully got #2 out with the petroleum jelly
procedure. The last three were more stubborn and were finally
removed surgically (after trying the meat procedure for a short time
with no luck). They cut an X over the air hole and then
pressed and pressed until the larva was aggravated enough to
emerge. It took many fingers to keep enough pressure on all
sides to keep the larva from going back in. My neck and
shoulders are very sore from trying to keep up the resistance
against the pressure. It took 2 1/2 hours to get those last
four out. Fortunately my scalp had been numbed with lidocain
(sp?) so that all I felt was the pressure. Each larva was
about 2 cm long when it emerged and then shrunk to 1 1/2 cm after it
lay on the table for awhile.
It will be awhile before I hike an
area that has botflies again. However, I'm going on a Panama
Canal Cruise in September which has a port in Costa Rica. I'll
use insect repellant this time and hope to have better luck.
Since I wore a hat during most of the hikes, I am surprised that
there was an opportunity. Do you know of any other precautions
to take?
Thanks again for your website,
Barbara
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May 20, 2003
Dear Brenda,
I went to the doctor about a lump in my
scalp. I had been in Panama and thought it was a bug bite. He diagnosed
it as a subcutaneous cyst and scheduled surgery for the beginning of
June. Yesterday, I felt a sort of bump on my bump, though it was cyst
material and--quel surprise--squeezed out a larva. (It never hurt while
growing. I did and do have swollen glands on my neck on that side) .I
was very disgusted. Thank heaven the same thing happened to my
dog once or I would have been totally grossed out. So now I have a
dermatologist appointment tomorrow to see if there are any more
creatures.
Thank you for the web site. I feel a little
less grossed because of all the similar stories.
Carol
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May 27, 2003 My
boyfriend and I got back from This
was his first visit to a doctor who skeptically turned him away with an
antibiotic as all the other stories suggested would happen.
Besides constantly trying to squeeze something out of there, our first
attempt was 41/2 weeks into it. Neosporin and a band aid. For two days
this did not show any results, except for improving the look of the area
outside of the hole slightly.
The third night of following suggestions from other stories we
smothered it in a pile of Neosporin for 2 hours which seemed to work for
other people but not for this botfly just yet.
The fourth day into treating it (5 weeks and one day from the day we think
he got it), he continued with the Neosporin and a band aid. Later that
evening he removed the band aid to finally see results. One side of the
creature was sticking out of the hole, squirming around for air. It
remained out briefly and then randomly made appearances for the next few
minutes while myself, and 3 or 4 other people could witness this thing in
his leg.
At this point we decided to suffocate the thing by whatever means
necessary. We lathered Vaseline about a half inch thick on the hole and
waited. It took almost an hour before we saw it come up for air. At this
time I stuck the tweezers into the mound of Vaseline and yanked on it. We
both felt and heard a snap, but soon after, it was poking itself out
again.
An hour and a half into it, we had attempted the Vaseline, then Elmer's
glue (which was to hard to see through and didn't seem to show results),
and finally a dab of super glue which hardened over the hole with what we
thought was part of the body stuck inside the clear glue. We pulled that
off, thinking we tore part of it off. We covered the hole with Neosporin
and a band aid and called it a night.
This morning, to our surprise the thing was still moving around and making
an appearance now and then. We
though we finally had enough proof for a doctor’s recognition, so he
made another trip to the emergency room, who tried to send him to a
surgeon, who then tried to send him back to the emergency room.
After all of this failed, we resorted to the tweezers and Neosporin.
Mid-day after pointless trips to see doctor's, and 2 hours of observing
the hole through random fluids the night before, he was able to grab a
hold of the end of the botfly larvae with the tweezers and slowly pull. A
long skinny portion came out first and then the end, a spiny round shape,
popped out. It looks just like the pictures you see here: http://mycostaricatrip.sitemanager.ims.net/learn/index.php?category_id=163 As long as there are no
other larvae inside, this looks like the end of it! |
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June 12, 2003 |
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June 15, 2003 I found your website after the fact of a botfly infestation. Since I am a travel agent, I feel responsible for telling clients how to seek immediate care if incubating a larva (although I try to be as tactful and reassuring as possible). Really weird problem. I was with a family group and no one else had a problem. I knew I got bitten and saw the distinctive pore opening, but had not clue (since I am such an optimist) of what was to come. I had the little larva for about a month in the undersurface of my upper arm. It only itched. Didn't die with Chigger Aid treatment but eventually was persuaded to leave when I used a combination of Chigger Aid and fingernail polish. I was peeling off the airproof layer about to reapply a new coat (due to itching). Thought I was pulling off a layer of clear polish and actually caught the end of the larva (which must have been half dead and gasping for air) and pulled the larva intact from my skin. Since I had no idea I had a larval infestation, this "cure" was very upsetting in its own right. YUCK. For others, I recommend identifying the characteristic pore opening very early (within a week of bite) and going to a dermatologist. The doctor will inject a local anesthetic and remove the larva intact with little pain or damage to the person. Also, if you don't look, you can spare yourself the shock of what you've been incubating. YUCK. Prompt correct diagnosis and professional removal is the least traumatic experience for those of us selected for botfly infestation. You wrote a good article covering the subject. Thanks, Betsy |
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I asked Betsy what country she had traveled too. Here
is her reply. Costa Rica in April 2003: Arenal Volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest, Manuel Antonio Rainforest. Subjectively believe the offending mosquito bite was at the last place during a patio dinner at the hotel. Of course no way to know for sure. Betsy |
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July 17, 2003 hi, my name is Anthony Cuccia and I was recently in an exchange program in Costa Rica for 6 months. After a weekend trip to playa samara with my friends I found a persistent mosquito bite on the right side of my lower back. The mosquito bit me through my hammock I was sleeping in at the time. For well over a month I believed the non healing bite to be just a bad mosquito bite and experienced sharp pains every now and then. I didn't think much of it an learned to live with the bearable pain. One day I had had enough and decided to squeeze the bite until something happened. Upon squeezing the bite I saw a whiteness coming to the surface. As I squeezed harder a small larva shaped object, what I now know was a bot fly larva popped out and fell to the floor. Upon examination I realized it was still alive. The larva was all white with what appeared to be a black dot at one end (the hooks used for tearing flesh). I was a little weirder out but thought as long as there was no infection or other side affects I would be fine. In fact I thought nothing of it until I saw a program on the animal planet tonight and decided to research the web to see what I could find. I came across your story and I can now put my mind at ease. I am returning to live in Costa Rica this fall and I am now fully prepared to deal with any further bot fly incidents I may encounter. I appreciate the information you have provided and I consider myself now informed. thank you, Anthony Cuccia |
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July 20, 2003 Thank you for your informative site!! I spent a few weeks in BELIZE and came home with one of those bites that just don't go away... and leaked, hurt, and itched... Well, I tried all your stories' solutions out... I couldn't bring myself to get hacked up like my mom did after her botfly experiences (she's had seven at one time cut out by a HMO surgeon), so I went at it myself... I tried the Vaseline, gobbed it on and then freaked out - realizing that truly I had something living inside me... then I was more determined than ever!!! squeezing wasn't going to work... it was still rather small... and well dug in... I thought that the Vaseline was good, but then I put a thick clear packing tape over the Vaseline - it formed a solid window that the little guy could not penetrate to breath. It was really pissed off now... frantic to breath... but I gave up for the night... the next day I was obsessed. I bought a new scalpel and cut a cross into my flesh (keep it sterile folks) tried to squeeze it out and still firmly dug in... and pissed off more than ever... the tiger balm was really the winner though... gobbed on thick and covered with clear tape.... slept with it on and in the morning my flesh was soft and the little guy had finally given up his hold. this was easier than a trip to the doctor/butcher (who of course has never seen one before anyway) and it cost a whole lot less... My sore has healed up quite nicely.... Thank you again for sharing your stories... They really helped me - I hope mine will help the rest of you poor unfortunate, probably freaked out, worried, paranoid, stressed out, bot fly infested souls. It will get better... GOOD LUCK!! HAPPY HUNTING!!! see the attached photos of my happy little friend. Robert Barbutti - santacruzphotographer.com |
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8, 2003 Dear Brenda and Mark: One time my friend and his wife came to my home for BBQ with big bump in his upper back leg and said it was mosquito bite while vacationing in Belize. Mike told me he went to 3 doctors because the pain is bothering him and has been taking shots for antivirus...nothing worked... I myself as a veterinarian and am native of Brazil have seen bumps and other lesions like it and laughed explaining through mixed English with Sign Language ( I am Deaf but speaking well with 3 languages) to Mike. He did not believe and asked me to dol. put Vaseline around the affected region to block this little host from breathing and waited for 4 hours then squeezed and it got out...it was almost full grown berne ( I use it in Portuguese language same as botfly worm) Mike freaked out and wanting to go to Hospital. I calmed him down telling it was nothing and put antibiotic cream and band aid. They brought the little visitor to their doctor ( I heard he freaked out seeing it) and send it for further examination....It was botfly ( or mosca berneira). I grew up in Sao Paulo and always go to my father s farms .. I have seen cattle being infected by botfly, horses are almost rare unless in poor condition...I have been bitten by ticks, mosquitoes, etc...but never botfly ...my sister was her victim. After what happened to Mark, the word goes around and more 2 people came here asking for the advice...I said Vaseline or hot wax around the wounded skin and wait for few hours making the little host loosen its anchors ,going up to breath, then squeeze it...without the necessity of having sugerical intervention unless something is critical If someone living in New York City or Brooklyn can always e mail me at Dmealimka@aol.com Jorge |
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August 30, 2003
Hey, I just wanted to write to you and thank you for your site. I had an encounter with a bot fly myself and it wasn't fun. I went to Costa Rica to study Spanish for the month. We traveled on the weekends and to arenal Puerto Viejo and Manuel Antonio. When I got back my lymph nodes were swollen. I also thought I had a mosquito bite on my head. I went to the doctor. He though that it was a fungal infection so put me on antibiotics and gave me Neosporin. I returned when the lump on my head was growing and hurting. It was also discharging a rusty colored liquid. He referred me to a tropical disease doctor. He was booked for a month. I noticed a sharp strong pain in the area every once in a while for 10-30 seconds. It was unbearable. I went to the ER one night because my brother seen it and decided it would be a good Idea because It just looked like a hole. That and it was bleeding pretty bad f! or a week and the night before it ran all the way down my neck. When we get to the hospital the nurse passes it off as a bug bite and I sit for 5 hrs. The doctor who then treats me has no idea what it was. They took 10 tubes of blood to test and urine sample a chest x-ray and aspirated it with a two inch needle into my head. She then referred me to a clinic in Philly who doesn't even deal with that....it was pre travel thing. My step mom was on the phone all day and found a doctor from Costa Rica who pretty much diagnosed it on the phone. They squeezed me in too see it the next day. They knew what it was and referred me to a surgeon. By this point it was living in my scalp for 8 weeks or so. The surgeon took me in the next day. I was awake during it. There was many people in the OR because they never seen anything like it before. When they cut open my scalp I heard them say "look how big it is" I was the talk of work! my school and the hospital. It was weird, it almost seems like it was a movie. I am not mad about it or turned away from Costa Rica from it at all. It all comes with traveling. Thank you again for your website........It meant a lot to find info on such a hard subject to find info on. Christian Kraft Alvernia College Reading, PA |
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September 8, 2003
Thanks! Your site is also a great link to send to gross out friends and
families. I didn't take any photographs of my botflies, so it is
nice to have access to pictures. |
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Also from Carla......I wanted to add, by the way, that there is a little biology research center outside of Belmopan called Monkey Bay- they let you set up a tent there and camp (this is where we stayed when we had to got to Belmopan or to the zoo). Anyway, the woman who runs this center told me that when she gives orientation to the new students, she explains about the botfly and says it is almost inevitable that someone will end up with one each season. So, she keeps a change jar or some other little prize and gives it away to the first student to give birth to a botfly- sort of to take the terror out of the experience. I thought that was a funny story. We were living on the Cayes, but here are some links for my favorite outdoors places in Belize: Five Blues National Park: www.fiveblues.org (little, but really quiet and pretty with above ground caves and a nice lake. If you aren't driving you'll have to walk in a few miles off the main highway, but it is a pretty walk. The park is isolated and beautiful, but both times we were there we came across other campers.) Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, where I got my 7 worms: www.belizeaudubon.org/html/parks/cbws.html (sprawling jungle, the best place in the country to bird watch and spot wildlife I think) |
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9-16-03
Hi,
My name is
Funmi Somefun, I just got back from holiday with my husband and children.
We had traveled to Nigeria in West Africa for 2weeks.
We had a
wonderful time, most of the holiday was spent in a city called Ibadan and
then we traveled back to Lagos just 2 days before coming back to
London. The morning after the first night we spent in Lagos I noticed that
my daughters shoulders had been bitten by what I had supposedly thought
were mosquitoes. She had a total on four bites on this one arm which I
found quite strange, by the afternoon of that same day she complained that
the arm was itching in the area of the bite.
On arriving
back to London, the bites had become quite swollen and from time to
time she cried that the hand was hurting her by clutching her arm just
beneath the areas of the bite. I also noticed she had been bitten also
under the armpit of the other arm. I called in to see my Doc to
explain my concern and to let him know that I think there were some
pores in the bites not knowing what they really were. He gave us some
antiseptic cream cause he couldn't really explain what it was.
Four days
after arrival and nothing had happened and I had noticed my son also had
been bitten on his side by his rib, I got pretty worried just wanting the boil
or the pores to come out. My daughter however fell asleep on my legs
that night and I tried to pinch open the biggest of this bites. To my
amazement it seemed something was actually living that kept going
back in, I was adamant and pressed harder and pulled this white with gray
ring maggot out. I kept my calm and set to work on the four
other bite and I pulled out a total of 5 maggots from my girl and 1 from
my boy.
I sent them
to the Doc's today to get them on antibiotics but couldn't tell him the
events of the last few days regarding the maggots for fear of my children
being used for experiments. My only concern now is that the area is still
hard and I do fear if there is anything left in their, we also had some
water come out of the bitten area after the maggots had been pulled out
alive.
I decided to
carry out a research and saw your web site and the stories by other people,
I will appreciate any advice you can give and a prompt reply on my email
address below.
Thanks ever
so much.
Funmi
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September
29, 2003
It was funny, because we had watched a show on one of the nature channels that had a feature on the botfly just a few weeks before we noticed that the cat was infested. I thought it was one of the grossest stories I had ever seen and was happy that we live in the USA and didn't have cattle (the story placed them overseas or only in cattle here).
We
live in the country so people are always dropping off their unwanted
cats around our house. She is one of five that we feed, but they will
not allow us to pet them. We could not catch her to get her to the vet.
We just had to let whatever was happening to her happen. We didn't know
it was a larva until it started coming out. The first to hatch had
entered above her nose and took over her right eye socket. Her eye
swelled up to about golf ball size. Her eyelid was sealed shut from the
growth and the larva made a hole in her eyelid to come out. I just
knew that she would have lost the use of her eye, but the exit wound
healed and her eye seems to be fine (no discoloration and she follows
movement with it). The second larva was on her chest. Of course, by the
time that one starting getting big, we knew what to expect. It
hatched last Fri. She is doing fine and healing well. From looking
at pictures, it looks like the human larva is mostly white while the
rabbit larva is dark gray/black. Using this as my diagnosis basis,
it was a rabbit botfly. This is one of those stories that you are just
dying to tell somebody, but at the same time, you realize how gross it
will sound to most people.
Thanks
for "listening."
Libby
Sexton
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washingtonpost.com
The Mystery of the Rain Forest Rash By Christine C. Lawrence This is the tale of a medical mystery. Four doctors were stumped by the
clues: exotic travel, strange weeping sores, inexplicable pains, rampant
rashes. Solving the mystery took a chance encounter at the library, an
expert author and a physician who listened closely to the patient. Weeks went by and the oozing persisted. "I had to change pajamas and my sheets every day," Eskinazi said. "Even with Band-Aids and gauze covering the bites. These things oozed all over, I mean all over. I thought the bites needed to be lanced and drained." "Actually, I was pretty sure it wasn't Lyme disease, as I had e-mailed the bed and breakfast in Costa Rica where we had stayed and told them about the bites," Eskinazi said. "They said there are no ticks that carry Lyme disease there." So she called her internist again. He sent her to a dermatologist. The dermatologist spent about two minutes with her and said, "I'm an expert on this. You have an allergic reaction to a bite. Stop taking the antibiotics and it will go away in two weeks." Eskinazi explained to him that she thought she had been bitten in the rain forest. Also, she told him she was feeling something moving at the site of each bite and that she had stabbing pains there, particularly at night. The doctor pointed to his head. "I think it meant he thought I was crazy," she said. He told her of a colleague he knew who urged patients with strange insect bites to place fatback on the bite. Only later did Eskinazi realize that this seemingly nonsensical crazy-sounding story might well have been the solution to her problem. The Ooze | |
