Two college students returning to America from their study abroad program to Senegal Africa both had visited the hospital for lesions on their persons.
Patient 1:
A 20-year-old male presented to the emergency department with painful, pruritic, tender red lumps on the bilateral legs of 1 week’s duration. The lesions had developed 1 week after returning from a month long trip to Senegal with a volunteer youth group. He did not recall enduring any sort of painful insect bites or illnesses while traveling in Africa and only noticed the redness of the skin on the legs when he returned home to the United States. After consulting with his primary care physician and a local dermatologist, the patient began taking antibiotics …show more content…
Upon examination she had similar symptoms to the first patient presented with several similar tender red lumps with central punctum on her upper leg and vagina. As she was being examined a maggot was discovered on her lower right buttocks. A gynecological meeting was obtained and because of the pain and uncertain diagnosis, the patient was admitted and an examination was performed under general anesthetic. There was a strong smell and a pus-filled discharge coming from her cervix; the vulva was superficially filled with some crusty lesions, and two vigorous wormlike creatures were present in the vulva as well as throughout the upper leg. No other infestation was noted. The pathologist identified the worms as maggots. Once extracted, the maggots were sent for species identification. It was determined that, similar to the first patient, the maggots were from the human botfly or Dermatobia hominis. Upon review by the public health nurse, the patient went weeks without bathing, changing or washing her clothes while studying abroad. She would even play in the common lakes where all the locals