Human wound myiasis caused by Phormia regina and Sarcophaga haemorrhoidalis in Minia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Myiasis is the parasitic infestation of human by the larvae (maggots) of dipterous fly that grow within the host while feeding on its tissue. Cutaneous myiasis is the most considerably encountered clinical form. Moreover, wound (traumatic) myiasis is the main clinical manifestation of cutaneous myiasis. In this research, we aimed to study the type of infesting larvae that are responsible for wound myiasis in the patients in Minia city, Egypt. Three cases of wound myiasis have been noticed among 280 patients with wounds at different parts of bodies. Two of them were diabetic patients. The third one had a history of hypertension with right side hemiplegia 2 years ago. All of them were elderly. The larvae removed from cases 1 and 3 were identified macroscopically and microscopically as the third-stage larvae of Sarcophaga haemorrhoidalis. The larvae removed from case 2 were the third-stage larvae of Phormia regina, which is very rare worldwide. In addition to the open and obsolete wound, diabetes mellitus and low socio-economic circumstances were shown to be attributed as important predisposing risk factors that led to the occurrence of myiasis in these patients.