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Gastrophilus intestinalis (horse botfly)
Epidemiology:
-> horseback riders become infested when eggs deposited on the flank of the horse hatch against their bare legs
Pathology:
-> maggots do NOT mature after penetrating human skin, but migrate for weeks in the epidermis
Clinical manifestations:
- pruritic & serpinginous eruption resemble cutaneous larval migrans caused by Ancylostoma braziliense
Management:
1) the black spines of the larvae can be identified after mineral oil is smeared over the lesion
2) larvae are removed with a needle
General
Gastrophilus
Properties
KINGDOM: animal
PHYLUM: arthropod
ORGANISM-CLASS: INSECTA
ORDER: diptera
References
- Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 13th ed.
Isselbacher et al (eds), McGraw-Hill Inc. NY, 1994, pg 936