LIVE maggot inside somebodys head.

[Anuwolf]

Has anybody had this happen to one of their patients?

The video can be located

http://theync.net/video/maggot.wmv (right click save as)

This video reminded me of a bizarre story that I heard on Untold Stories of the ER on TLC. A doctor had a psychiatric patient telling him that she had worms in her. She would not say anything else.. Her arms and thighs were infected on both sides. To make the story short, the doctors found out that the patient cut herself and packed in dirt with bunch of earth worms (the worms were pets of the patients). The patient demanded that the doctors bring in plaint dirt with bunch of cups (the urine cups) to place the earth worms. She would yell at the doctors if she thought that they were hurting the earth worms.

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[GMO2003]

Has anybody had this happen to one of their patients?

The video can be located

http://theync.net/video/maggot.wmv (right click save as)

This video reminded me of a bizarre story that I heard on Untold Stories of the ER on TLC. A doctor had a psychiatric patient telling him that she had worms in her. She would not say anything else.. Her arms and thighs were infected on both sides. To make the story short, the doctors found out that the patient cut herself and packed in dirt with bunch of earth worms (the worms were pets of the patients). The patient demanded that the doctors bring in plaint dirt with bunch of cups (the urine cups) to place the earth worms. She would yell at the doctors if she thought that they were hurting the earth worms.

that's AWESOME

 

[Taurus]

Totally wicked! Wish they didn't cut the clip off before the entire maggot was pulled out.

 

[average]

Totally wicked! Wish they didn't cut the clip off before the entire maggot was pulled out.

http://asmodeus.asenovgrad.net/humor/90.html

 

[TysonCook]

The wife of one of my friends had the exact same thing happen to her. 2 Bot flies living in her scalp. She said that it was horrible as you can feel them moving beneath her scalp, and according to her she could hear them.

It only took about 4 trips to their PCP, and eventually the ED, where they put some vasoline over it did they see the Bot fly larvae poke their heads out. So, of course in true ED fashion, the ED referred them to Derm Clinic. At derm clinic they made a small incision (with 5 med students looking on), and removed the 2 larva.

Supposedly they have barbs on their body, so that if you just try to pull them out by the head, they just break off in the scalp. Not sure if incision is the proper way to Tx but, seemed to work for her.

Just remember, Tropical Environment w/non healing "bug bite", could be a Bot fly.

 

[Mary Jane Watson]

We had a patient who had had some trauma to his scalp a few weeks earlier. He came in with maggots crawling all in the wound! You could even see his skull through the wound. I thought I was gonna hurl.

MJ

 

[Squad51]

The wife of one of my friends had the exact same thing happen to her. 2 Bot flies living in her scalp. She said that it was horrible as you can feel them moving beneath her scalp, and according to her she could hear them.

It only took about 4 trips to their PCP, and eventually the ED, where they put some vasoline over it did they see the Bot fly larvae poke their heads out. So, of course in true ED fashion, the ED referred them to Derm Clinic. At derm clinic they made a small incision (with 5 med students looking on), and removed the 2 larva.

Supposedly they have barbs on their body, so that if you just try to pull them out by the head, they just break off in the scalp. Not sure if incision is the proper way to Tx but, seemed to work for her.

Just remember, Tropical Environment w/non healing "bug bite", could be a Bot fly.

Had a bot fly patient. Actually what worked (easily I might add) was a "cure" that one of the EPs I was working with knew from mission work in South Am. We got a tech who smoked to blow cigarette smoke at the entry hole. Little bugger came flying out. The bot fly makes a little cavern in human sub-q tissue. It is like a little cave. They HATE smoke, so, fill the "cavern" with smoke and they run. It was actually really easy!

 

[Febrifuge]

Times like this, I love EM like a fat kid loves cake.

 

[southerndoc]

I diagnosed a botfly in a nurse returning from a medical mission trip in Sierra Leone. It was diagnosed by her primary care physician as a cellulitis and treated with cephazolin without improvement. She presented to the ED by referral from her PMD. It was again diagnosed as cellulitis and she was told to continue her cephazolin.

She called her PMD on Saturday afternoon saying that it now had a "pinhole" in the center. He advised her to come to the ED. I walked in the room, took a peek, and then asked "have you been out of the country recently?" She told me she just returned from Sierra Leone. I told her she had a boyfly abscess and she nearly freaked.

We put a Tegaderm over it (there are some reports of oxygen deprivation killing the larva). That didn't work after an hour -- you could still see it coming to the surface. I was going to I&D it, but when I injected about 2 mL of lidocaine, the thing popped out.

I got a lot of kudos from my attending and senior for it. I was encouraged to write it up as a case report, but haven't gotten around to it yet. We even ultrasounded it.

The only reason I thought of it in the differential was because I had just read an article on botfly abscesses about a week prior when I stumbled upon it on the internet. Amazing how these things work out.

 

[DrMom]

We even ultrasounded it.

I'd *love* to see that one!

 

[MossPoh]

We had a patient who had had some trauma to his scalp a few weeks earlier. He came in with maggots crawling all in the wound! You could even see his skull through the wound. I thought I was gonna hurl.

MJ

I have heard of a doc that likes to put maggots into wounds that won't heal to help prevent infection and stuff. Saw the pictures and not the most appealing looking thing...but if it works I guess it doesn't matter..I just don't know if I could walk around knowing I had a bunch of maggots in my cut crawling around.

 

[NYMDinMI]

There was another show on TLC, it was something like the top 100 things removed from the human body. There was some pretty amazing (and disgusting stuff), but they showed this woman who had a bot fly worm in her scalp for several months. They showed the doc taking it out. It was pretty skeevy watching out on TV, I can't imagine seeing it in real life.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Gunshots, stabwounds, rashes, any major trauma - piece of cake. Can handle them like a champ.

Botflys swimming around someone's scalp? OMFG Maybe I need to rethink EM...

 

[skypilot]

Has anybody had this happen to one of their patients?

The video can be located

http://theync.net/video/maggot.wmv (right click save as)

This video reminded me of a bizarre story that I heard on Untold Stories of the ER on TLC. A doctor had a psychiatric patient telling him that she had worms in her. She would not say anything else.. Her arms and thighs were infected on both sides. To make the story short, the doctors found out that the patient cut herself and packed in dirt with bunch of earth worms (the worms were pets of the patients). The patient demanded that the doctors bring in plaint dirt with bunch of cups (the urine cups) to place the earth worms. She would yell at the doctors if she thought that they were hurting the earth worms.

Wow,

 

[tiger_lily]

When I was in Uganda we had a newborn baby brought in to a home for abandoned babies that I sometimes worked at. He was pulled out of a pit latrine, umbilicus still wet. He had maggots in quite a few places... his skin was turning white in multiple places and nobody thought he would survive. It was pretty horrible, but after being transferred to the hospital, he was adopted by a nurse. She's single (and of course, nobody has much over there), but one of the docs was so impressed he offered to help "sponsor" them. He did well and after a few weeks, the nurse took home her new son. So, a much better ending to the story than most of the babies brought into the home.

 

[Taaki]

Has anybody had this happen to one of their patients?

The video can be located

http://theync.net/video/maggot.wmv (right click save as)

This video reminded me of a bizarre story that I heard on Untold Stories of the ER on TLC. A doctor had a psychiatric patient telling him that she had worms in her. She would not say anything else.. Her arms and thighs were infected on both sides. To make the story short, the doctors found out that the patient cut herself and packed in dirt with bunch of earth worms (the worms were pets of the patients). The patient demanded that the doctors bring in plaint dirt with bunch of cups (the urine cups) to place the earth worms. She would yell at the doctors if she thought that they were hurting the earth worms.

I saw the same show, just when you thought you have seen it all...........

 

[emtp6811]

I have heard of a doc that likes to put maggots into wounds that won't heal to help prevent infection and stuff. Saw the pictures and not the most appealing looking thing...but if it works I guess it doesn't matter..I just don't know if I could walk around knowing I had a bunch of maggots in my cut crawling around.

Recently approved by the FDA as a valid medical treatment for removal of necrotic tissue. Once they hit fresh live flesh, they stop eating and you can close it.