Skin-nontumor / Clinical Dermatology

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Skin-nontumor / Clinical Dermatology

Infestations

Botfly

Reviewer: Mowafak Hamodat, MB.CH.B, MSc., FRCPC, Eastern Health, St. Johns, Canada (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 5 July 2011, last major update July 2011
Copyright: (c) 2002-2011, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

Description
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● Dermatobia hominis flies are acquired during travel to endemic areas
● Female botfly attaches eggs to abdomen of biting arthropod, eggs hatch, and first stage larvae burrow into skin through insect bite, hair follicle or other wound; larvae spend 4-14 weeks in skin developing into third stage larva or “instar," up to 2 cm
● Larvae then emerge
● Also called myiasis-the feeding of fly larvae from family Oestridae on living mammals (Wikipedia)

Treatment
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● Petroleum jelly over skin opening to cause larvae to migrate to surface; also venom extractor syringes (Wikipedia)

Case reports
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● 50 year old male traveler to Belize (CJEM 2007;9:380)
● 61 year old woman traveler to Belize with pruritic lesions on back, thigh and supraclavicular area (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2001;125:453)

Clinical description
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● Resemble insect bites, allergic reactions, herpes virus, molluscum contagiosum, bites of mite Sarcoptes scabiei
● Enlarging lesions may resemble cellulite, pyogenic furuncle or infected sebaceous cyst

Clinical images
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Figure 1: larvae with anterior end is wider than posterior end; 2: larvae has 2 curved oral hooks on anterior end (for grasping and tearing tissue for feeding); 3: parallel concentric rows of posterior pointing spines on body

Botfly extracted from skin lesion

65 year old male traveler to Belize: images and extraction video

End of Skin-nontumor / Clinical Dermatology > Infestations > Botfly

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