That Botfly Story You’ve Heard From Me 10 Times Already
Argh — looks like an alien!
Please note this is a reproduction of the webpage I originally created for this story. I just thought it’d be better included in my journal rather than off on its own. Easier to manage too. The extraction happened in March 2006. Since then, thanks to B3ta, Digg, StumbleUpon and others, well over 100,000 people have visited and read this story — which is astonishing really. So thank you all. In the near future I’ll be re-writing this page to make it more thorough and give more information. In the meantime, enjoy!
Help me find my dad — if you’ve just returned from a holiday in South America, consider taking a look at my page about my father. Does he look familiar to you? If so, drop me a line.
Maybe it’s a karma thing. I dunno. I changed my plans and decided to go to the Peruvian jungle at the last minute because I was tired of mountains and deserts. But I’d forgotten that one advantage of dry mountain terrain is the relative lack of insect life.
The jungle was great, but one day I made the mistake of wearing a thin t-shirt made from a ‘technical’ fibre — ie, cooling and comfortable in the humid heat of the jungle. Mosquitoes struggle to bite through thick cotton, but these fibres are just so easy for them. In one day with this shirt on I managed to acquire about fifty bites, mostly on my back. Interestingly, the locals, even without deet repellent, receive far fewer bites.
One of these bites didn’t heal quite right. A week or so after I’d noticed it would hurt quite a bit, like a needle being pushed into my back. I guessed it was a little infected. This was late February. After a week or so of this I went to my local clinic where the nurse had a good look. She’s travelled tropically herself and was impressively clued up. After enquiries she felt it was likely to be a bug inside me. There then followed a slightly confusing phase when nobody seemed available to help me out, but eventually, after a few visits, a doctor at the famous Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine offered to take a look. He couldn’t find anything at the time, or extract it, sadly, but the pain continued and the now bigger wound was starting to hurt for longer periods of time. This, apparently, is the botfly larvae moving around and snacking on my flesh. Eventually it was a friend (who is also a dentist, which helps) covered the wound with vaseline and watched carefully for some time through a loupe. It soon became obvious that a botfly spiracle was popping up for air every now and again.. Which meant this bad boy was inside me:
The larvae, if left alone, would live inside me for up to eight weeks and grow up to 25mm long before leaving in order to pupate into the adult fly. I believe the fly can then live for up to two weeks, purely on the stored energy from its larval stage — it can’t eat as an adult. The adult then has to mate, and the female with then capture a mosquito in order to lay its eggs on it. When the mosquito bites someone, the eggs fall off and the warmth of the host causes those eggs to hatch and in a very short time the little grub will burrow in and get snacking.
Nice!
My friend Geraldine is having a baby and has shared the video of its ultrasound. Not wanting to feel left out I thought I’d share my own little ‘baby’ video with the world! But also I felt this page may help people who get the same problem — there are other resources, but none struck me as that clear to the layman, and there are none with a video to show you what to expect.
Some information that I’ve been able to find — the scientific name is Dermatobia Hominis. It has a mouth with scraping hooks, a main body with rows of hooks to hold onto its host, and a spiracle through which it breathes. Symptoms are an enlarging lesion (spot!) that has a small pinhole in the centre for breathing — this hole will not heal as long as the bug is alive. Occasionally you’ll feel sharp stabbing pains, lasting up to half an hour, as it moves or eats. It won’t burrow especially deeply and is unlikely to cause any real damage even if left to mature.
Extraction — we’re currently trying to persuade it out by covering the wound in vaseline. This forces it closer to the surface as its spiracle searches out air, and it may even come out completely. See the video above. As this story progresses I’ll update this page. I also plan to add some links to resources. Watch this space!
OK — I just gave birth to a baby worm. I always said I wanted children, but… not sure if this is the way.
Removal of the botfly larvae:
It wasn’t easy. Squeezing didn’t seem to work, and is said to be almost impossible if the larvae is still alive. So we settled on trying to kill it or weaken it. However, although there are approaches that give you an almost instant kill, the method we used helps to encourage the fella to come closer to the surface.
We needed some kind of dressing that was flexible enough to go on the back and able to keep as much air out as possible. We settled on the lid from a tube of jaffa cakes, filled with vaseline, and thoroughly taped in to place. After a night’s sleep I could feel the wriggling in the morning. Eventually the lid slipped and I removed it completely to see a lot more of the larvae sticking out. Result! I covered it once more, and quickly went to see my friend who was then able to gently tweezer the tip up enough to get another pair of tweezers lower down and slowly extract the bug. Mechanical removal like this isn’t usually advised, but as the larvae was weakened by this point after a night of struggling for air it seemed to be ok. My only concern now is that it might have a twin! But the wound is healing well, which is a very good sign. There’s still some inflammation but it’s improved.
Here’s some pics of the little blighter. Someone could probably make a rather neat little animation. You can see the movement of his mouth parts as he wonders where the hell his meal’s just gone. The goo is just vaseline, by the way.
Pics and video of the little fella:
Click on the images for larger versions.
Linkage
It could have been worse though… but don’t look if you’re either sensitive or don’t like seeing people’s, erm, hidden bits.… http://sti.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/80/3/183.pdf - membership now required.
Comments feed
Looks unpleasant
You are a brave man.
Hi,
My l6 year old daughter has been on San Blas Islands in Panama for 8 weeks doing mission work. She returned home yesterday and has three spots that look nasty. One is a red bump that can be moved under her arm. One on her chin and one on her ankle. All of these seem to be in different stages. But at first they looked dry and then turned pussy. I covered them with antibiotic ointment and a bandade. She says they are not itchy or sore now. But they look wierd in that there is a row of black points. I thought that they looked odd and have just found this site. They could very well be botfly larvae, how do I get rid of them.
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl — I\‘m afraid I can\‘t help much. I\‘m not a medic and can\‘t help with a diagnosis. What I can say is that with my own botfly spot there were no black points visible on the skin itself. If they\‘re a type of botfly then just try what I did with the vaseline. Better may be to see a good medic and explain the situation fully and carefully — making sure they take you seriously. Good luck! Dave
I just removed a botfly larva from my leg yesterday! I returned from a trip in Belize three weeks ago and symptoms did not appear until I got back home. I have four holes total: two on my left leg, two on my right. I am one of the brave few who are willing to wait it out and let the darn things come out on their own. I don’t want to risk performing self-extraction only to risk some of the larvae being left intact which could lead to infection. So, unless the pain becomes more severe I’ll just be a generous host to my new friends I brought back with me.
I am a botfly.
ooo! ooo! ooo! ooo! ooo!
Mmmmm, I always thought you were a vegetarian!
I have been the victim of “nuches” (as they are called in Colombia) about 4 times over a period of 15 years visiting my farm in the mountains, always with 2 or 3 wounds. Right now I have 3 of the utterly annoying though scientifically fascinating pests (did you know that the botfly captures a mosquito or fly on which it deposits the eggs which hatch upon contact with skin, at which time the larva burrows under the skin?) If interested, there’s much needed info in Wikipedia, under Dermatobia Hominis, nuche’s fancy name. Botfly cases are very often misdiagnosed, even here (they’re not that common, actually). For those who inquire, I recognize nuches because, first, what starts as a mosquito bite just refuses to heal. It then swallows and watery blood may come out. The wound has an open mouth (for breathing!). And, sooner or later, the sob starts to bite! That’s when you accumulate enough hatred to get rid of it …
How? One common method which I haven’t seen reported anywhere is smoke (cigarrette, tobacco or whatever :), though I now doubt if the reason is suffocation or heat — or both). Right now I’m trying petroleum jelly on one, a piece of raw meat on another and just tape on the other. I’ll let you know … sorry for the length :(
Absolutely fascinating creatures we dont have them here in NZ but have viewed several videos on youtube etc. and currently looking for more but they seem hard to find at the moment. Good on yer mate!
Cheers Kent — incredible stuff that exists out there… I mean, what an amazing lifecycle. A bit gross.
Typical of me though — if there’s something strange out there it seems to come looking for me!
Andres — did you get the botfly out? I found the vaseline to work a treat, but you do need to make it hard for the bug to get to air so you need a *lot* to get it to pop out enough that you can get a grip on it.
Of course, eventually it comes out of its own accord.… In a way I’d have been fascinated to see this, but with the thing on my back it was just too much to bear.
Dave.
Holy cucomber!!!!!!
those things are sick. Can you imagen having those in you thats is so sick!
please keep more of these blogs commin because i am so amased it is just sick!!!
i have found another video of a man with two or more botfly in his back, he is with very enthusiastic friends that wish to help and proceed in pulling out two of he biggest things i have seen.lol
http://www.mojoflix.com/Video/Human-Bot-Fly-gross.html
Hello all. I am actually a premed student at the University of Wyoming, and I find the lifecycle of some of these parasites fascinating. Thank you for sharing your stories, you can really learn a lot just by reading up. Keep up on the mountain climbing, as we say in Wyoming; “climb on!”
Oh, yuck. I’d heard of such, and we’re leaving for Belize the day after tomorrow. Oh, YUCK. Dave, I’m like you — if it’s sick, gross or just plain weird, I will find it, or rather, IT will find ME. OMG,is it too late to get a refund? Hats off to ya, for the courage it took (not to mention, stomache)to film and share your story. THANKS, and GOOD LUCK!! Oh, DOUBLE-A-GAZILLION-YUCK!!!
OK…that’s what my “inflammation” (according to a local doctor in Lima) on my ankle is all about… thanks for putting this information together. I have been travelling for four months in Peru. I returned from the jungle four weeks ago (still in Peru) — and something has been growing inside my ankle since then — waking me up at night with a stinging pain that goes away after about ten minutes — and also the same pain sometimes during the day. There is a red tiny open wound or hole that keeps on leaking fluid with blood. The sensation of something moving inside is then NOT my heartbeat felt inside an infection… So what to do now? — don’t panic I guess. Make some nice macro-pictures of me as a man giving birth to an insect? For those of you who have fulfilling the process of giving birth to the Bot Fly; will the pain get worse (I’m pregnant in my 4th or 5th week)?
Follow up… Now a proud father of a premature Botfly larvae! After some more research on the Internet I tried the following. I smeared a piece of cotton with Vicks VapoRub (containing camphor-, menthol– and eucalyptus-oil) and taped it to my ankle where the Botfly lived, repeated it after four hours and the pain changed to become more constantly. When stretching my foot and pressing the swollen area to check what was going on, it just popped out of the hole in my ankle — it was about one centimeter long. I did some nice macro-photos. Thanks again for the information on this site.
Hmmmmph… BLACH!! cough cough cough… hmmmmmmpf.. BURL—ACH! HUURRRRRRRRBLACH!!!
omg…
BUUUULLLLLrrrrrrACH!!! >spitspitcoughspitspitspit
botflys are gross id haten to have one in my head!!!!
I was in Peru for a biology course just a few days ago, and I think I’ve got one of these little bastards in my head. I’m goin with the vasaline in a vitamin water cap technique. I’ll let y’all know how it goes. I feel a little stupid, sitting on the couch with a slimy cap taped to my head with a crooked hat smashed on top.
Well I loved Belize it was a great honeymoon but I picked up a little hitch hiker and he came out to play to day. OH! JOY!!! I wish more people would get this info they sure do not put it in the travel brochure. Anyway I am a proud papa of my fly lol…
Thanks for the info on this site. Two days after coming home from Belize, I felt pinches and movement (itchiness). There was redness and swelling surrounding two bites. I went to the doctor about 1 1/2 week later. He perscribed antibiotics and told me he thought I had a reaction to an insect bite but not a botfly larvae. That was on Friday. Friday night I read several more websites on the subject and applied vaseline. On Sunday my husband and I pushed on the bites (2) on my back and produced a total of three larvae. Monday I called the doctor back and asked him if he had read the papers I had copied from the internet and left him. He said he had but didn’t think that was the case. Then I asked him if he wanted to see what I had pushed out. He was all excited and said to bring them on down. I was the buzz in the office. Although the samples were dried out the lab that doc sent them to confirmed that they were small but 100% botfly larvae. He gave me the credit for diagnosing them and when I told him I thought there was still one left he recommended the treatment that I had used. After two long attempts to use vaseline and wait, nothing. I even tried a polstice of egyptian balm and very strong garden variety oregano on the bite. Nothing in the morning. So later that day, I made the appointment to have a cut done. Five stitches later I’m not sure. He has sent my chunk of skin in to the lab for analysis. Did he get anything or did I go nuts thinking it was another bug? Geri in Grover Beach, Ca. Would I go back to Belize, yes! Only I would be using more deet. It was an incredible vacation.
Eeewwwww!!!!! If the same thing happens to me, I wish that I can get the memory clean out from m head. My hostel and cafe is a fly-heaven, and tha is very gross to me. Luckily though that there are none of this in my country. Man! I can imagie if the Euchimon (I think that what they call…) wasp decides on injecting eggs in human, it could be worst than your case. Anyway, I salute you. You’re quite brave, and thank you for giving the others about this info. Have a sweet dream.
My dog had a golf ball size knot on his neck two weeks ago that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. He hasn’t been on any exotic vacations lately and at this point I had never heard of a Bot Fly so I took him to the vet. The vet ran some blood work and did a needle biospy thinking it was a tumor. The biospy came back inconclusive in that it was either a spider bite or a Mast tumor. He recommended bringing him back in two weeks if it’s didn’t go away. In that two weeks it has doubled in size. Yesterday, back at the vet he showes me that what he thought was a bite mark has not healed and showed me a Bot Fly larva that he pulled out of another dog in this area. This thing growing inside my dog is about the size of a goose egg now and attached to the tissue in his neck! My vet wants to see him again tomorrow to take an ex-ray and possibly perform exporatory surgery. Either he hasn’t read your stories of extraction methods or he’s just trying to get more money out of me. I’m going straight home and covering this “breathing hole” with some vasiline and a plastic lid. So far I’m into it for $394.70! Yikes! Good job on the Bot Fly blog 8-)
Well… how interesting is this stuff. I came across this site after squeezing 2 giant **things** out of my small Rat Terrier. Yes…I quezily watched the video of the brave soul with the duct taped back ((eeeww)) Anyway .. very informative stuff. I am done freaking out and thinking my dog has some horrid affliction, now I know she is just producing some nice new SouthDakotian flies. Thanks to all for the info and the stomach turning moments :)
Well, to continue the saga, I still had a fourth larvae under the stitches, the lab confirmed, no larvae in the batch of skin the doctor extracted. They said I had quite a bit of scar tissue built up which indicated that one was still there. Meanwhile I just covered the stitched area with neosporin and bandaids and smothered it to death. The day before the stitches were to come out, my back showed an edema stemming from the area where the larvae were. I had finally killed the thing and my body was taking care of it. That was something I not forget all to soon.
My daughter was in Belize treking in the jungle.She took a little friend home with her!!!Yes a botfly larvae.A swelling started to appear on her head 3 weeks after she came home.We took her to the infectious deceases clinic in Aberdeen where the doctors confirmed the news my daughter had fearing that she had a botfly!!!
They told us to put vaseline and a plaster on that night and that might suffocate it and force it out of its home in my daughters head!!!If that didn,t work they would have to operate and cut it out.
That night we did what we were told.Next morning tweezers at the ready in case it was showing but not out , i took the plaster off(WIFE HIDING BEHIND DOOR SCREAMING )me hand shaking daughter with a expression on her face l,ll never forget l looked and here was the pesty thing half out of the hole l tried to get it with the tweezers but it went straight back in!!!i tried again this time squeezing the swelling on my daughters head the larvae came out again this time l got it with the tweezers and hauled straight out .
It was 17mm long and intact and still living .we still have in a minature vodka bottle.think the daughters quite proud proud of it!!!
Friends small child (Approx 3yrs old) was treated for infection after lesions and rash developed. After approx. 3 weeks a large swollen area appeared under the childs chin. Doctors treated the rash etc as a type skin infection. The father noticed it was moving and began pulling on dark area and removed Maggot type larve. It was sent to CDC in Knoxville, TN and was confirmed Bot Fly. Is there a lot of this in the United States? This is the first case I’ve ever heard of here in East TN. The Child has never been to South America or any where else to my knowledge.
Note from Dave — Hi Ken, I’m afraid I can’t tell you what it may have been, but there’s plenty of insects around that like to lay their eggs on a nice, mobile food supply! I believe there’s a fly in the UK that can do this with people — particularly if there’s an open wound. Could be that’s what’s happened?
Well my dog has given birth to a bot fly in New Mexico the vet called it a cuteariba ( or something simalar) I found this site with searching. I guess they are now moving north with the Killer Bees. Major gross out!!!!!
I picked up a couple of these things while working in Suriname in the 90s. I had heard about them beforehand and my own reaction was also along the lines of OMG/gross/sick/etc. but like a lot of unpleasant things, when they happen to you, you deal with them. I had medical insurance so went to a doctor to have them removed, successfully in the first case. In the second, the doctor gave up after several tries and gave me a prescription for some calomel (mercurous chloride — a poison) to apply to the bite site in the hope that it would kill the larva when it came up for air. Sure enough, the next day a dead bug fell out when I removed the dressing. I thought part of it might have been left behind but there was no subsequent infection. The first one was in me for quite a bit longer than the second; in fact it made a return trip to Canada in my back. As well as the intense pain when it was moving about, it also caused me to bleed a lot, something no-one else has mentioned.
Back in April, an insect got inside my wife’s nose. The insect bite her. She blew her nose, but nothing came out.
In May, she felt something biting her on upper part of her throat and though it was a parasite (worm). She has visited the doctor due to headaches, sinuses pressure, fouled-odor, drainage and the feeling sensation of something moving inside her sinuses. She has been given amoxicillin and other medicines. A blood test was done to check for evidence of parasites, but it came out negative. A cat-scan and x-ray also came out negative; even the ENT specialist could not see anything abnormal with her respiratory system. On September 16, she had a white fouled-smelling substance draining from her nose. First it appeared as tiny white drops, landing on her upper nose. Later, she discharged one larger speck, over a ¼ inch long. A week later, she felt like tiny bugs spitting out through her nose. This was preceded by numerous tiny drops of clear liquid (water drops) falling uncontrollable through her nose. She could feel some of these bugs as they would made quick contact with upper part of lip and quickly disappearing. On a few occasions she was bitten on the upper lip, right and left side of her face and left side of her forehead. So far the doctor’s diagnose have been sinusitis, seasonal allergies, possible mental problem or even having an unclean home. Is it possible for an insect like a botfly or screwworm to nest inside the sinuses cavities?
Felix — sorry to take so long responding to this.
But really — I can’t help here. Let the doctors worry about it. I hope whatever the problem is, you’ll get it sorted.
Dave.
Felix,
From what I’ve researched the botflys do like nasal cavities. Hopefully by now the problem is taken care of. I just got back from Peru and came back with two botflys in my head. Per my dermatologists suggestion, I currently have two pices of bacon attached to my head. I feel completely rediculous, and I can’t help but laugh at this insane predicament. The truly insane thing is that I only spent 3 days/2 nights in the Amazon. I mean what are the chances?! Anyway, if anyone has experience with bacon, or bacon vs. vaseline, vapo rub etc. please pass it on. I’m particularly interested in how long I have to keep the bacon attached to my scalp. One more thing, I am very squeamish about everything and normally get completely grossed out by the sight of spiders, roaches etc. — it’s amazing what the mind can deal with when there’s no where to escape.
Update — one of them poked it’s little head up but went back inside. I gave up on the bacon and tried vaseline which seemed to shake it up. The little sucker is only 2 1/2 weeks old, and my husband said the head is very small. I’m hoping the small size won’t make it impossible to take out. Anyone out there have experience with extracting a young botfly?
Be careful if you find yourself having to tweezer it out — you don’t want a broken larvae inside you!
The vaseline should draw it out enough… it did for me. Just make sure the vaseline is thick so it can’t get to air easily.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Dave, I think the saga is over — what a traumatic past few days! My dermatologist took one out which was a lot smaller than what you see all over the web. I’ve estimated it’s a couple days short of 3 weeks old. My husband and I tried to get the two of mine out all weekend but nothing worked. I will be thrilled if I never have to see vaseline again! There was another one that the doctor treated on Fri. with lydacaine without removing. We think that may have killed it. The doctor put something in it today that he said would either make it pop out or move out through my body — the body will end up rejecting it, and he says the only thing to worry about is inflammation which he gave me something for (everything on the web says that you don’t want to leave the botfly in dead or have it break apart and have some of it left in, but I’m under the supervision of my doctor so I’ll just hope for the best). I also took stromectol which was prescribed by the doctor. It’s what they give dogs for worms — the humiliation never ends. Anyway, I now feel like the luckiesT girl alive!
I am going to a clinic in Rivas, Nicaragua in a couple of hours to have 2 botflies removed from my head. The stabbing pains are the worst and I am prepared to pay any amount of money to stop the pain!
The doctor says excision is the best way although I would be a lot happier with vaseline or something less bloody!
Hi everyone..
I have a couple of questions, can the botfly be nested next to the hole or beside it?
Do they live on the westcoast of the U.S? (Seattle, Portland,Los Angeles)
Im here visiting and got a major pain in my lowerback, right around the tailbone area.
(YES, right between the upper part of my buttcheeks)
I stood infront of a mirror to se what was going on and noticed an irritation..
Not knowing what to do i thought it was maybe a rash of some sort.
I left it there and the pain started to wake me up during the night(And I sleep as if in a coma)
Rubbed Voltaren Gel for the pain thinking the back was the pain area..
Checked againg 2 days later and i notice a small ?hole?, and a small amount of discharge following from time to time.
But now i have a bulge on my left cheek, not to far from the hole.
Any ideas?
Hi Daniel — I’m not aware of human botflies living anywhere in the US… but you know, there’s all sorts of odd critters in this world.
Best bet is to go and see a doctor, ideally a good one that pays attention!
Good luck and let us know if it’s anything interesting.
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
It was part designed by me, and slapped into shape as a GPL theme by my colleague James — you can download it at my company’s website: http://www.interconnectit.com/anvil-wordpress-theme/
I have heard of a botfly case in Nashville from a person who had never left the US. I think it’s very possible that someone could have been carrying it (like a lot of us who have posted here), maybe not known what it was and just lived with the pain until the larvae dropped to the ground and there you go — an adult botfly. Let’s hope this isn’t common — I’m scared for life, although on the bright side nobody can ever top my story. Daniel, I hope for your sake you’ve gotten it taken care of. I’d be very interested to here if it was a botfly — it sounds like it was.
I vacationed with my family Oct. 20–27, 2007 on a cruise with ports of call in Cozumel, Belize (with a hike in a rainforest followed by cave tubing), Honduras and Freeport, Bahamas. On Nov. 6th I felt a small bump on the top left portion of my scalp. At first, it itched like a bug bite. Upon inspection, I noted a black dot smaller than a poppy seed surrounded by pink discoloration. I thought it was black dot ringworm. The black dot area started to swell and the area began to ooze clear fluid and occasionally bleed.
By Thanksgiving, the center changed to what appeared to be a hole about the size of a sesame seed and the fluid that oozed was now thin, but dark — the color of motor oil. I noticed the fluid “bubbled” out of the hole when I blotted it after shampooing my hair. The raised area was now the size of a quarter and raised about 1/2 inch. All along I felt as though there was something moving about inside, but I couldn’t get anything to come out of the hole when I pressed on the surrounding skin.
By the first week of December, the area started to become painful — like a red hot needle had been inserted into my skin. The pain was intermittent, but becoming more frequent and lasting longer each time. It seemed to hurt more after I touched the area — as though something under my skin had been awakened. The pain was always followed by a trickle of this dark, watery discharge.
I never shared with with my family and prayed the whole mess would go away. Daily I searched the internet for clues. I didn’t want to ruin Christmas for my family if I had a tumor. I scheduled an appointment with my dermatologist for Dec, 27th. Finally, on Dec. 26th I ran across an article on the internet explaining my exact symptoms, including the dark drainage and excruciating pain. Armed with a printed copy of the article, I went into the dermatologist, explained both my symptoms and the timing of my travel to the rainforest in Belieze.
Following seven injections of lidocaine to numb the area, my dermatolosigt made a small incision next to the round hole in my scalp, and very carefully, using tweezers and a hemostat, extracted a 2 centimeter mature botfly from my scalp. I was so relieved to have it out and know the pain would stop. It was gross and the psychological dammage was almost worse than the physical symptoms I had been experiencing. I asked if there was only one and it was all out and he said he thought “yes” because the skin was now flat against my head.
The next day, the area was still swollen about the size it was the first of December (although no more pain or dark fluid oozing), so I went back to see the dermatologist to make sure nothing more was there. His theory was because there was only one breathing hole, there was only one botfly and he was sure he extracted all of that one out. It’s been 5 days since the botfly was removed, and I still have a raised area about the size of a large lima bean, but the site is healing nicely. I’ve been applying antibiotic ointment twice each day.
My daughter brought home a beautiful handcrafted purse purchased at one of the shops in Belieze … I’m not too impressed with my souvenir! It made a big hit at the dermatology office and I’m very grateful with his skill and compassion.
I was motivated to write my account of this experience assuming I picked it up while in the tropics, but read other postings with references to Nashville and Knoxville (where I live) Tennessee, I presume it could have been a local botfly. Guess we’ll never know!
Just returned from a two week trip to Belize with three botfly holes in my left leg…I was aware of the botfly potential before traveling and can’t believe I actually got them since I spent an inordinate amount of time hoping I wouldn’t. Picked these bites up in Cockscomb basin on day 3 of our trip so I guess the botfly is almost 3 weeks old now? We asked a local guide we had in San Ingnacio about botflies (before I knew I had them) and he said to try nail polish to suffocate them and then remove when dead. This seemed to work on one of the holes– my husband got about a 2inch long larvae with head and tail and the swelling is already way down…but seems like the booger ate through the polish on the other two. We’ve reapplied and are hoping they’ll die too, but I can feel him moving right now… Wondering how long to wait before removing nail polish to see if it is dead? Suggestions? And now after reading all the blog– I’m worried we will leave some behind of course– what does the subsequent infection look like? What are the risks? And then the possibility of more than one bug per hole is not fun to think about. Wish me luck!!
what the hell is that shit???
My husband and my daughter (12 yrs old at the time) both had bot fly larvae growing inside of them after a trip to Belize in 2000. Doctors were stumped when the sores weren’t healing. Through research we figured out they were bot fly larvae and confirmed it with the tour company. They advised to put petoleum jelly over and tape, wait about 30 min and have two sets of tweezers ready to pull the bot fly out. We did that. Ours had grown about six weeks and were rather large. (Looked like white grubs.) Personally I wouldn’t want to wait for them to crawl out on their own because I wouldn’t want them to spread and my husband and daughter said it hurt to have them inside, so the sooner they come out the better. The bigger they get the more it hurts from what I was told. I had to be the one pulling them out and it wasn’t fun but needed to be done.
I forgot to mention my daughter’s was on the top of her head near her forehead and my husband’s was on his back near his shoulder.
How to get rid of the botfly? I have read of success using Vaseline — covering the breathing hole and waiting and watching — tweezers & hemostat in hand — for the botfly to come to the surface. I have also read of covering the hole with a piece of raw bacon. It seems as though the botfly will crawl up to the bacon in search of air, bite through the bacon, then you pull off the bacon while applying traction to the head and body of the botfly with a hemostat or tweezers. You are correct when you write of the pain involved in having one of these varmints growing under your skin. The pain for me was excruciating!
It has been 16 days since I had my botfly extracted from my head and while the site has healed, there is still a small amount of edema at the site. I did further research and have concluded only one botfly grows per breathing hole, so I’m fairly sure a little sibling wasn’t left behind.
Looks like a common thread of traveling to Belize and bringing one or more of these things home. Immigration would be upset if they knew how common this was given they don’t even allow fruits or veggies to be brought back to the States! I read somewhere that 1 in 500 tourists will come home with a botfly larvae under their skin. Do they even spray in Belize to kill the misquitoes that carry the eggs? This whole episode was just plain gross.
I had heard that placing a decent sized slab of raw steak on the bite will coax the little buggers out and in the morning you can just take the steak and larvae completely off.
Hope that helps someone.