Bit Bot

You remember how I was making a big deal about the not wanting to be bitten thing? Well we've had a number of good reasons turns up at the walk-in clinic over the last few days. People with larvae IN THEIR HEADS. Yes, wriggling and generally being really painful and disgusting. The nasty in question is a bot fly larva - dosen't he look friendly?

The worst case was of a university student who had been in Guatemala for three weeks (yes, Guatemala completely surrounds Belize so this is another cause for paranoia!) and came back through customs but neglected to declare that she was carrying SEVEN bot fly larvae in her head. Ah, but she wasn't bitten by a bot fly....oh no...the bot fly gets something else to do all the dirty work. It catches a mosquito or another blood sucking fly in mid air, transfers fertilised eggs onto its victims abdomen, then flies off happy in the knowledge that when the fly lands the eggs will be transferred, hatch and the larvae will burrow under the skin of the new host......clever! These larvae then grow and feed on the blood and skin of the host, and breathe by sticking their tail ends out of an air hole. Luckily this proves to be their undoing as the cure is to cover the air hole with Vaseline for 30 minutes or until the wriggling and thrashing stops and then squeeze the large inflamed 'zit' like lump and force the damn thing out. there is a catch though as it has three rows (or more) or backwards facing spines that try to stop this happening....

So its a burqua minus one hole at the bum plus a plastic showercap for me......