Poor little guy. Lucky for this boy, his mom was attentive and decisive, once she saw what was happening. Read the short article, and see how resilient and tough some children can be. He’s kind of enjoying the attention and notoriety now. Calls himself “Bot-Man” since removal of the Bot Fly.
Huge Botfly Maggot Removed from Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Iw0-7EMUo
There are hundreds of these videos on Youtube.
The family still recommends Costa Rica as a vacation destination but warns travelers to use insect repellent and to cover up from head to toe
and maybe take a shower and wash your head after being out in the Jungle,
Or do a salt water beach only vaca
The Great American Songwriter Irving Berlin wrote his first ballad hit, “When I Lost You”, in his grief over the death of his first wife, Dorothy Goetz. She had died of typhoid, contracted on her honeymoon, just four months after their marriage in 1912. (The Honeymoon was in South America).
Now i know that Costa Rica is in CENTRAL America, but this story reminded me of this little bit of American Lore about tropical vacations.
Years ago I found one on our dog. He had never been out of Kansas. Gross.
We used to remove them from our horses and cattle with a half gallon milk bottle and a wad of burning paper
Pops them right out
I do my best to stay clear of jungles.
Oh, and I hate monkeys.
Nasty little bug. A friend got one once. They used the bacon trick to get rid of it.
There is no safe place. Caribou on Alaska’s North Slope are infested with fly larvae burrowing into their coats during the few weeks of summer. Not sure if they are Bot flies. There is no jungle at 70*N latitude.
Ewww. Ick, ick, ick. (Grief! I have a sudden urge to go take a long, hot shower!)
What did one botfly say to the other botfly?
Say, you’re new around this part.
Why I refuse to go anywhere south of Indiana.
Quite common among pets and horses in the USA. Bots and wolf worms.
http://equusmagazine.com/article/beatbotflies_071807
http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_cuterebrosis
http://pets.thenest.com/causes-wolf-worm-baby-kittens-9231.html
Hate hats, but started wearing one all the time.
Our fourth child was infested with Bot fly/Mango fly larvae when she was 11 months old. We were living in Kenya at the time and, thinking they were some sort of insect bite, showed them to elderly missionary friends from the Congo.
“Oh, those are mango fly larvae!”
“Gross! What do we do, surgery?”
“No, put a strip of adhesive tape over each hole. Wait 24 hours. The larva can’t get air, so it crawls part-way out before getting stuck on the tape.”
Sure enough, the next day we slowly pealed the adhesive tape off all 12 wounds and each either had a larva sticking to the tape or one pulled must of the way out of her skin. These we removed with tweezers.
Our daughter smiled through the entire process, except for swabbing the wound with antiseptic after larva removal.
Family takes their kids for a “tropical summer vacation” in Central America. Spend your money in the US. See America First.
I went to Costa Rica on a tour once. The trip was shortened because I stepped on a nail in a small board, hidden by the sand on the beach. I punctured the exact soft spot on my foot between the heel and the ball of the foot.
We had a retired nurse on the trip and she helped me.
On her advice I left that tour the next day and it took me three days to get home.
Everyone was VERY nice, especially since I spoke Spanish so I have fond memories of Costa Rica....sorta.