Ohhh Lovely, now that is one way for the “bait boys” to keep em fresh
An American holidaymaker got a nasty surprise when he discovered that the lumps on his scalp were not bites or shingles, but live botfly maggots. Aaron Dallas, from Colorado, US, sought medical advice when the bumps appeared on his scalp after a trip to Belize this summer.
But it was not until the bumps started moving that doctors realised Dallas had five live maggots inside his head.
“I’d put my hand back there and feel them moving. I thought it was blood coursing through my head,” said Dallas.
“I could hear them. I actually thought I was going crazy.”
Adult bot flies are larger and more aggressive than European flies. One type attacks livestock, deer and humans.
They rely on mosquitoes, stable flies, and other insects to carry their eggs to a host, which in this case was Dallas.
“It was weird and traumatic,” said Dallas.
“I would get this pain that would drop me to my knees.” As traumatic as this may seem, botfly infections are fairly routine in parts of Central and South America.