Doctors remove three live botflies from eye of American woman in Delhi hospital
She had recently travelled to the Amazon forests and had a bite on her right upper eyelid
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Your support makes all the difference.A hospital in Delhi claimed to have removed three live human botflies from the eye of an American woman who had recently visited the Amazon forests.
Hospital authorities on Monday told the media that “three live human botflies almost 2cm in size were removed from the 32-year-old woman”.
Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj, south Delhi, said in a statement that the American woman was diagnosed with a rare case of myiasis.
According to CDC, myiasis is the infection of a fly larva (maggot) in human tissue.
It occurs in tropical and subtropical areas, CDC mentions. “People typically get the infection when they travel to tropical areas in Africa and South America,” it says. “People travelling with untreated and open wounds are more at risk for getting myiasis.”
Experts say that if left untreated, this could cause damage to the tissues and in rare cases can even result in rare meningitis and death.
It was reported that the 32-year-old American woman had come to the hospital as she was complaining of pain and swelling in her right upper eyelid.
She was also quoted as saying in the statement released by the hospital that she had felt something move inside her right eye for the past few weeks.
The unidentified woman was quoted as saying in the official press release by the hospital: “I had gone to the Amazon jungle and when I returned, I noticed a bite on my right upper eyelid. It started growing and bleeding. I thought it was a poisonous spider bite.
“There was a small hole in the middle of the bite, and I saw something coming out of the hole. The doctors in the US could not get it out and so I came to Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj. The doctors here could take the botflies out without the help of anaesthesia.”
The statement from the hospital claimed that the woman had earlier consulted doctors in the US but the botfly couldn’t be removed and so she was discharged without any treatment. She was however given symptomatic relief medication.
The statement said that on her visit to India, she visited Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, where she was diagnosed and treated by Dr Mohammad Nadeem, consultant and head of emergency at Fortis Hospital, ER physician Dr Dheeraj and Dr Narola Yangar (surgery department).
Dr Nadeem said: “It was a very rare case of myiasis. Therefore, these cases need to be evaluated in detail urgently.”
Dr Nadeem said that the team removed “three live human botflies almost of cm in size – one from the right upper eyelid, second one from the back of her neck and third from her right forearm.”
Health officials said that the rare surgery was completed in 10-15 minutes.
The woman was later discharged on symptomatic prescribed medicines from ER.
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