What Is Myiasis?
3. How Is It Spread?
The only way to become infected is to come into contact with eggs from a fly. Depending on the species involved, flies may utilize different strategies to deposit their eggs onto a suitable host.
Some, like the human botfly, attach their eggs to the belly of a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect. This unwitting partner then deposits the eggs when it lands to feed on a host. Once deposited, the eggs hatch and larvae begin to burrow into the skin. In contrast, the tumba fly lays its eggs in damp soil or on wet clothes hung out to dry. The eggs hatch and then wait to come into contact with the heat of a suitable host.
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