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Cutaneous Myiasis

  • Tropical, Travel and Emerging Infections (L Chen, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Myiasis is defined as the infestation of live vertebrates, either humans or animals, with dipterous larvae. Many organs can be infested by these larvae with cutaneous myiasis being the most common form. Cutaneous myiasis can be divided into three categories: localized furuncular myiasis, migratory myiaisis and wound myiasis, which occurs when fly larvae infest the open wounds of the host. Human myiasis has worldwide distribution, with more species and a heavier burden in tropical and subtropical countries. In recent years with increased travel to the tropics, myiasis has become common in returning travelers from these regions, Furuncular myiasis, mainly Dermatobia homonis becomes the most common form seen among them. Treatment is based on full extraction of the larva and no antibiotic treatment is needed. Understanding the mode of transmission of each type of myiasis may help to prevent the infestation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dermatology Departement, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    Michal Solomon

  2. Infectious Diseases Unit, Shaare-Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

    Tamar Lachish

  3. The Center for Geographic Medicine, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, 52621, Israel

    Eli Schwartz

  4. Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Eli Schwartz

Authors
  1. Michal Solomon
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  2. Tamar Lachish
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  3. Eli Schwartz
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Correspondence to Eli Schwartz.

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Michal Solomon, Tamar Lachish, and Eli Schwartz have no relevant disclosures to report.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Tropical, Travel and Emerging Infections

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Solomon, M., Lachish, T. & Schwartz, E. Cutaneous Myiasis. Curr Infect Dis Rep 18, 28 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-016-0537-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-016-0537-6

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