Abstract
Background: Myiasis refers to the infection of vertebrate tissues by dipteran fly maggots. The most well-known causal organism is Dermatobia hominis, a human botfly.
Case presentation: A 24-year-old female residing in Asmara, Eritrea, presented herself at the emergency room after experiencing a foreign body sensation for six days, with a history of multiple painful and pruritic nodules on 8th September 2025 at Halibet Referral Hospital. She found 7 erythematous, tender nodules and noticed a sensation of movement over the nodules, with a small central punctum appearing on the patient’s extremities. Although she had not traveled internationally, she recently visited a family member on the 10th of July 2025 in the Southwest region of Eritrea. On her clinical examination, she had multiple areas of furuncular lesions with visible moving larvae. After applying petroleum jelly to every patient's lesion, every visible larva was successfully extracted by forceps. The patient was prescribed a seven-day course of an oral antibiotic combination: Amoxicillin trihydrate 500 mg and clavulanic acid (as potassium clavulanate 125 mg), administered three times a day for seven days. The follow-up confirms, the patient has successfully recovered from myiasis.
Conclusion: In most cases, myiasis is an illness that both patients and medical professionals find repulsive and unpleasant. In order to compare various therapy modalities, validate treatment procedures, and improve diagnostic methods, future research should try to cover a wider spectrum of cases.
Keywords
Uncommon, Furuncular, Myiasis, Eritrea