For those unfamiliar with the human bot fly – and if you’ve got a strong stomach – scroll down to the video below.
Ally Vagg and Bryan Williams have been holed up in Bolivia after getting infected with the fly larvae, which feed on flesh, squirm under the skin and poke their heads out of the open wounds.
Vagg and Williams, from the Gold Coast, have already pulled out seven of the flies, which lay up to 50 eggs in each wound, reports news.com.au. The couple picked up the infection after travelling to the Amazon basin last month.
“I lifted my shirt to see the head of it crawling at the top of my skin looking like a worm or fishing bait,” Williams told news.com.au.
He went to hospital where the only doctor on duty spoke only Spanish.It was left to Williams’ friends to pull out three of the inch-long larvae.“We all nearly puked.
Repeatedly.”I am going to the tropical disease doctor for full removal, I don’t care if he cuts a dinner plate hole in me with no anaesthetic,” Williams told news.com.au.
“I can feel it move.
”The human bot fly will lay its eggs on mosquitoes, which rubs them off when it lands on humans. The heat from the body hatches the egg and the larvae drop on to the skin and then burrow and live on the skin. Gross.
Warning: This video contains graphic images of human botfly infestation
