A study of myiasis in man and other animals in Manitoba

Abstract

The study has been undertaken for the first time in the Province of Manitoba to determine the different types of myiasis, and the myiasis-producing Diptera which occur in the province. Two types of myiasis were observed - obligatory and facultative. The types of obligatory myiasis recorded were furuncular or subcutaneous myiasis produced by members of the genera Cuterebra, Hypoderma and Wohlfahrtia; and myiasis of the mouth, nose, and sinuses by members of the genera Cephenemyia and Oestrus. Facultative myiasis involving "fly strike" in sheep was caused by Phormia regina and wound myiasis was produced by Phaenicia sericata. There were no actual cases of accidental myiasis, but flies capable of producing this type of myiasis were collected. Two earlier cases recorded from man in Manitoba were of creeping eruption by the first stage larvae of Gasterophilus intestinalis. They were reported by Austmann in 1926, and Bedford in 1933. Furuncular myiasis caused by larvae of Wohlfahrtia vigil was reported by Duncan in 1961, and traumatic myiasis by larvae of Phaenicia sericata was reported by Poetker in 1962. There was also an example of blood-sucking maggots of birds by larvae of Apaulina avium, and another of spurious myiasis in a chicken by larvae of Musca domestica.