Doctors were surprised by the case of a woman who was working in a field near sheep in September last year. Not long after, she noticed that a lot of flies were swarming around her face, so she decided to go inside, . However, a dangerous infection managed to take up residence in her body.
- A woman from Greece literally sneezed out a worm after working in the field.
- It turned out that she had Oestrus ovis fly larvae in her cavities.
- Doctors surgically removed several larvae and one pupa.
A fifty-eight-year-old woman began to feel pain in her sinuses a few days after working in the fields. In the following weeks, she also suffered from a severe cough that she could not get rid of. Although there were no serious symptoms, everything changed on October 15, when out of nowhere she sneezed out an almost three-centimeter worm.
Therefore, she immediately went to the hospital, where doctors surgically removed up to 10 larvae and one pupa from her sinuses. With the help of nasal drops, the woman made a full recovery, and none of her colleagues reported similar symptoms. DNA testing of the insects showed that they were fly larvae Oestrus sheepa parasite with a well-documented history of colonizing the nasal cavities of sheep and goats. However, this phenomenon is much rarer in humans.
The parasite most often settles in the cavities of sheep and goats. (illustrative photo)
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There are several cases where this type of flies settled in human cavities, most often around the eyes. According to records, the parasites were mostly unable to develop beyond the first larval stage. Problems can arise if a person has weakened immunity or anatomical abnormalities of the nasal cavities.
This was also the case with the patient from Greece, who had a severely deviated nasal septum, which allowed the invaders to settle in the sinuses. There, they could continue to develop and even reach the pupa stage, which scientists had previously considered biologically impossible.
Later larval stages that become trapped in the animal’s cavities are reportedly not used to pupating. “Instead, they dry out or become calcified, which sometimes leads to bacterial superinfection,” the doctors revealed.
Human cavities do not provide good conditions for the parasite to settle. (illustrative photo)
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In general, healthy, well-functioning cavities are not ideal places for these larvae, as certain biological factors create unfavorable conditions for pupation.. Therefore, doctors believe that the deviation of the patient’s nasal septum played a decisive role. “This deviation must somehow have changed the cavity environment enough to provide a cozy shelter for the larvae,” they concluded..
Experts have also come up with a much more disturbing hypothesis. “Perhaps this case was an early warning sign that mucha Oestrus sheep adapts to the human host“, they concluded.
