Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
The flies hitherto noticed as supplying parasitic maggots in man are
_Musca domestica_, _M. carnaria_, _M. larvarum_, _M. nigra_, and perhaps
_M. Cibaria_, _M. stabulans_, and _M. Cæsar_. This last, a handsome fly,
is the species which proves so troublesome to sheep. The habit which
flies have of depositing their eggs in open wounds, when the victims
are asleep, is a fertile source of this kind of parasitism. Some of the
instances recorded by Kirby and Spence are revolting in the extreme.
They quote the cases which came under Mr Sell’s notice in Jamaica. In
one instance the flies were hatched in a neglected blister on the chest;
in another from the gums and inside of the cheek; and in a third, from
the nostrils of a negro, from whom 235 larvæ were expelled. The case of
the Lincolnshire pauper, Page, who was literally eaten up by maggots, is
almost incredible. An equally horrible instance, however, is recorded by
Cloquet. It is said that the Jamaica cases were all due to the larvæ of
the bluebottle fly (_M. vomitoria_). An instance of the same kind has
been recorded by Mr Knox (A. M. D.). Sufficiently revolting as these
cases are, the horrors attending them are eclipsed by the habits of
the larvæ of _Lucilia hominivora_. The best accounts of its habits are
those by M. Coquerel, M. Saint-Pair, and M. Vercammer. The insects lay
their eggs in the mouth and nostrils, and when the larvæ escape they
devour the tissues surrounding the buccal cavity, the pharynx, glottis,
frontal and nasal sinuses, even reaching the sockets of the eye. Several
Cayenne convicts have perished from the maggots of this fly, which is
also prevalent in Mexico. These are not, however, the only instances of
maggots gaining access to the nasal chambers. In a case recorded by Dr
Astros, of Aix, 113 were discharged from the nose of a woman; and M.
Legrand du Saulle records an instance where a number of larvæ occupied
the frontal sinuses of a girl, nine years of age. The larvæ produced
persistent headache and convulsions. In the case recorded by Wohlfart,
18 larvæ were discharged from the nose of an old man, and in the example
given by Latham several larvæ were obtained from the frontal sinuses of
a woman. Bracey Clark also gives an instance in which a bot was taken
from a woman’s jaw. Not improbably the well-known Indian disease, termed
peenash, or worm in the nose, is due to the presence of Œstridean larvæ.
Cases by Rustomjee and Lahory are quoted below. Possibly Stockett’s is
another of the same order. The case by Kilgour (Bibliog. No. 34) may be
another. I may add that Moquin-Tandon gives an instance of the discharge
of seventy-two bots, resembling those of the sheep, from a woman’s nose
(‘Journ. de Vandermonde’). The rat-tail maggots or larvæ of _Helophilus_
are parasitic. Two or three instances have been recorded from the horse.
I possess one from the human intestine. Kirby also quotes an instance
in which _Heloph. pendulus_ was obtained from the stomach of a woman
(‘Philos.
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