5

Myiasis

Adult female scre\N\o\Orm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax (reproduced from

Herms and James, 1961).

R. Wall et al., Veterinary Entomology

© Chapman & Hall 1997
198 A1yiasis

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Myiasis is the infestation of the organs or tissues of host animals by

the larval stages of dipterous flies, usually known as maggots or
grubs. The fly larvae feed directly on the host's necrotic or living
tissue. The hosts are usually mammals, occasionally birds and, less
commonly, amphibians or reptiles.
Myiases are often classified according to the anatomical
position in, or on, the animal that the larvae infest. Broadly speaking,
they may be described as dermal, sub-dermal or cutaneous,
nasopharyngeal, ocular, intestinal/enteric or urinogenital. When
open wounds are involved, the myiasis is known as traumatic and
when boil-like, the lesion is termed furuncular. If the path of the
larvae beneath the skin can be traced, the myiasis is designated as
creeping and a rare form of bloodsucking myiasis is describea as
sanguinivorous. However, it is probably of more biological interest
to classify myiases in terms of the relationships between host and
parasite, since this provides insight into the biology of the fly species
causing the myiasis and its likely pathological effect. Accordingly
myiases may be described as obligatory, facultative or accidental.
Obligatory ectoparasites must have a living host to complete
their development and are unable to survive in the absence of the
host. In contrast, facultative parasites can develop in both living and
dead organic matter. The facultative species can be subdivided into
primary and secondary facultative ectoparasites. The primary
species usually adopt an ectoparasitic habit and are capable of
initiating myiases, but may occasionally live as saprophages in
decaying organic matter and animal carcasses. The secondary
facultative ectoparasites normally live as saprophages and, usually,
cannot initiate a myiasis but may secondarily invade pre-existing
infestations.
The final group of species to be described causes accidental
or miscellaneous cases of myiasis. These are species that are only
rare or chance agents of myiasis, which may invade an inappropriate
host or which may cause a myiasis when fly eggs are accidentally
ingested. These species are primarily of interest from a medical point
of view and will not be discussed further in this book.