Doctors urged people to take necessary vaccines and to observe all notes and suggestions regarding travel and attire in jungles, adding that people should visit medical facilities if they find wounds or bug bites after returning from abroad.
Mackay Memorial Hospital Department of Oral Medicine Doctor Liu Chung-chi (劉崇基) yesterday said his department recently received a patient, a 33-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳), who complained about worsening pain in his lips.
Chen said that he had visited Machu Picchu in Peru and stayed at a local hostel in the jungle region in October last year.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Discovering a small wound on his lips in November last year, he said he visited a dermatology clinic after the wound had failed to heal after two weeks.
Chen exhibited a minor condition of papules near the wound, which resembled an insect bite, which was initially diagnosed as herpes, Liu said.
However, upon further assesment, it was evident that three wounds had failed to heal and showed signs of “movement” within, resulting in a changed diagnosis of being infested with a form of larvae, he said.
Liu said he tried to remove the larvae without anesthetics, but Chen could not bear the pain.
Liu said he then arranged for Chen to undergo general anesthesia and removed the larvae after 15 minutes of surgery.
The larvae were sent to the lab and National Taiwan University Department of Entomology Professor Hsia Hsu-feng (蕭旭鋒) confirmed that it was the larvae of the Gasterophilus intestinalis, also known as horse botfly.
Liu said the country has only seen two previous cases of horse botfly larvae infestation, both of which were on the scalp, adding that this was both the first recorded incident of larval lip infestation in the country and the first encounter of it in his career.
The larvae had hatched from eggs because Chen’s previous visits to clinics had misdiagnosed the symptoms, Liu said.
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