What is Cutaneous Miasis?
Cutaneous miasis is a disease caused by the penetration and stay of larvae and adult arthropods in the skin of the human body.
Skin miasis usually occurs only in places with poor sanitary conditions; in most cases, the infection occurs as a result of the casual carelessness of a person. In humans, the disease can be caused by various species of these insects.
Causes of Cutaneous Miasis
The main causative agents of cutaneous miasis are the larvae of the fly bollard (Cordylobia anthropophaga) and the sand flea (Tunga penetrans), the females of which penetrate the skin through their moves, where the fertilized animal swells from eggs to the size of a pea, causing the development of painful ulcerations.
In domestic practice, there are cases of parasitization in humans of wolfarth fly larvae (Wohlfahrtia magnifica) and various gadflies (usually Russian and sheep).
Representatives of the genus Gastcrophilus, Hypoderma, Dermatobia and Cordylobia affect the skin; Phonnia and Wohlfahrtia can infect open wounds and ulcers.
Symptoms of Cutaneous Miasis
Skin (tissue) myase can be of different forms:
- Epidermal Mias; the larvae live in the epidermis and do not go beyond its limits (for example, the larva of the 1st phase of the Gastrophilus gadfly, causing creeping disease).
- Subcutaneous miasis with localization of the larvae in the connective tissue layers of the skin, and the epidermis may again be affected (for example, the skin gadfly of Hypoderma cows, whose larvae can also parasite in humans); the corresponding form of miasis is called subcutaneous miasis with moving swelling of the skin over the migratory larva; the larvae of the skin gadfly Dermatobia and the fly Cordylobia. anthropophaga cause the development of furunculosis miasis.
- Subcutaneous miasis can pass into the tissue when the larvae of flies enter ulcers or wounds and begin to eat away the living tissue of the host body; Ultimately, there can be tremendous damage to the soft parts of the body. Such forms of miaz sometimes take a generalized character and can be the cause of the host’s death (for example, cases of “jamming by worms” (that is, the larvae of flies) of a person known from history to death); tissue miasis, in particular, wound miasis, is caused by both obligate (Wolfartfly larvae) and facultative parasites (larvae of the fallen fly (Lucilia), house fly (Musca domestica), meat fly (Calliphora), ochliomyia macellaria, Pycnosoma, etc.
In the tropical regions of America, Dermatobia hominis, a human gadfly, causes human injury. This amazing forest-inhabiting two-winged insect catches a mosquito or some other blood-sucking insect and lays its eggs on it.
When bloodsucking warm-blooded animals gadfly eggs fall from the carrier and penetrate into the wound at the site of the bite. In the skin the larva develops within 2-3 months. In the final result, it comes to the surface of the skin, falls to the ground and pupates. Lesions are most commonly seen on unprotected areas of the body, including the hands, feet, head, and neck. During the 1st week after infection, the itchy lesion is very similar to a mosquito bite. As the larva grows and begins to move, it causes severe pain and itching. Observed with this destruction of tissue and inflammation lead to the development of furunculo-like lesions. Usually the central part of this lesion has a lumen from which the rear end of the larva is visible. Dark, serous-eel-like secretions containing insect feces can be noticed.
In Africa, a similar defeat is caused by Cordylobia anthropophaga (tumbu fly). These flies lay their eggs in sandy soil or on linen washed and laid out for drying. The larvae hatch and invade the intact skin of humans or wild rodents, where they mature for 8-9 days. These larvae can be removed without any difficulty by surgery. When the larvae infect these flies, the larvae should be allowed to mature and wait for their spontaneous falling away from the skin. Sometimes this process can be accelerated by smearing a hole in the center of the affected area with oil. This will cause the larva to start choking and hurry to get out of the skin.
Treatment of Skin Miasis
Treatment of skin miasis consists of removing the gadfly larvae from the moves they make, removing these larvae from wounds and ulcers, applying tampons with chloroform, and antiseptic treatment of ulcers and wounds.
Prevention of Cutaneous Miasis
Treatment of ulcers on the body of domestic animals to destroy the larvae of flies in them, the treatment of ulcers and wounds so that they do not attract flies to them with purulent separation “protection of food from flies, consumption of well-washed and cleaned vegetables, especially if they are used fresh ; burning corpses and carrion.