"Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed the first human case of a flesh-eating parasite in the U.S. The patient, a Maryland resident, had recently returned from travel to El Salvador and was found to be infected with New World screwworm, an HHS spokesperson told ABC News. It comes amid an outbreak of the parasite among livestock in Mexico and countries across Central America."
"What is New World screwworm? New World screwworm (NWS) is a species of parasitic fly that feeds on live tissue and can cause myiasis, which is an infestation of larvae, or maggots. They can infest many types of animals, including livestock, pets, wildlife and, in rare instances, humans. Cochliomyia hominivorax, the New World screw-worm fly, or screw-worm for short, is a species of parasitic fly that is well known for the way in which its larvae (maggots) eat the living tissue."
HHS confirmed the first human case of New World screwworm in the U.S. in a Maryland resident who recently returned from El Salvador. The parasite is involved in a regional outbreak affecting livestock in Mexico and countries across Central America. New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is a parasitic fly whose larvae cause myiasis by feeding on living tissue. A female NWS lands in an open wound and lays roughly 200 to 300 eggs; hatched maggots burrow deeper into tissue and cause painful infestations. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife and, rarely, humans, and is not typically found in the U.S.
Read at ABC News
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