Myiasis

Abstract

The condition of fly maggots infesting the tissues of people or animals is referred to as myiasis. Specific cases of myiasis are clinically defined by the affected areas(s) involved. For example, there may be traumatic (wound), gastric, rectal, auricular, and urogenital myiasis, among others. Although not an infectious disease in the strictest sense, myiasis cases are often seen by family physicians or infectious disease specialists. Myiasis can be accidental, when fly larvae occasionally find their way into the human body, or facultative, when fly larvae enter living tissue opportunistically after feeding on decaying tissue in neglected, malodorous wounds. Myiasis can also be obligate in which the fly larvae must spend part of their developmental stages in living tissue. Obligate myiasis is true parasitism and is the most serious form of the condition.