Woman sneezes nearly 1-inch-long ‘worms’ - how she got the ‘biologically implausible’ infection
Yahoo • • health
Key Points:
- A 58-year-old Greek woman developed nasal myiasis after being exposed to sheep bot flies while working near grazing sheep, eventually sneezing out a worm and requiring surgical removal of 10 larvae and a pupa from her sinuses.
- DNA testing confirmed the larvae were sheep bot flies (Oestrus ovis), parasites typically found in sheep and goats, but rarely in humans, especially reaching advanced developmental stages like pupation.
- The woman's severely deviated nasal septum likely created an unusual environment in her sinuses that allowed the larvae to develop beyond their usual stage, a phenomenon previously thought biologically implausible in mammals.
- Typically, the sinuses' conditions prevent pupation due to temperature, humidity, and immune defenses, but anatomical abnormalities may enable these parasites to complete their life cycle in humans.
- Researchers suggest the possibility of sheep bot flies adapting to humans, but emphasize that further studies are needed to understand the parasite's capabilities and implications.
