AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize by District Stann Creek no see um bites

//www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly.html

Not likely to be Botfly as they don't bite just lay eggs that develop into larvae that live in the host body. I've witnessed several cases and the symptoms are very different.

Chiggers were the scourge of many an archeological field student out at Lamanai, all survived. The infection usually occurs due to scratching the affected areas.

"Is there such a thing as a human bot fly? Yes, we're sorry to say there is. Called the torsalo, Dermatobia hominis, occurs in Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, getting one is an extremely unlikely occurrence for the average visitor.


2nd instar torsalo larva, note the hooks to hold it in place! One of the really cool things about this insect is that it lays its eggs on a mosquito and the eggs hatch when the mosquito feeds on a host.


A torsalo warble
While the maggot feeds on its host (you) it has to have a hole in the skin so it can continue to breath. It takes about 6 weeks to complete development on its host. There are stories of entomologists rearing torsalos on themselves in order to get a good specimen of an adult (which are rarely captured), but we regard this as taking your profession a little too far." (I have friends who have done this by the way.)

thanks for all your advice. I will tell her to get to the southern Regional Hospital in Dangiga to see a doctor today, if she can. I am also going to call the emergency numbers given to us before she left.
She has been taking benedryl since monday but was going to continue to take it. She took baby oil with her and i will suggest that she put some on, along with her sunblock and Deet..She had one big dose of antibiotics given to her at our travel clinic (for trav. diah) so i told her to take that last night. Thanks again.

Dare I ask...what on earth is a Chigger?

Chiggers or red bugs, are the tiny (1/120 - 1/150 inch) larvae of mites in the genus Eutrombicula. Their bite causes intense itching and small reddish welts on the skin. Chiggers most frequently attach themselves at hair follicles in areas where clothing is tight fitting such as the ankles, waist and armpits. Chiggers feed on digested skin cells, not blood. Itching is usually not felt for 3 to 6 hours after attachment and may persist for up to 2 weeks. Scratching often removes the mite but can result in secondary infection. Lathering and rinsing several times in a hot shower is the best way to remove any remaining chiggers. Prompt removal can lessen the duration and intensity of the itching. Topical creams or ointments (containing benzocaine, calamine or hydrocortisone) can be applied to provide temporary relief from itching. Chiggers are not known to transmit any infectious diseases in the United States.

Life Cycle:
The life cycle of Chigger mites consists of several stages: egg, deutovum, larva, protonymph, deutonymph, tritonymph and adult. Only the larval stage bites humans. Adults overwinter in the soil. Eggs are laid in damp soil during the first warm spring weather. After hatching, the larvae crawl on the soil or up grass blades in search of a host. After attaching to the host, the larvae feed for up to 3 days. The engorged larvae then drop to the soil to complete development to nymph, then adult. The nymph and adult stages feed on arthropods.

Management:
To reduce the incidence of chigger bites, use insect repellents and wear protective clothing when you are in chigger habitat. Long sleeved shirts and long pants, tied at the ankles, are recommended. Chiggers are most often found in vegetation transition zones such as along the junction of forest and grass, along margins of swamps, brush thickets and even home lawns.

Wow. Those things sound a lot like what was causing my welts while in Belize.

Every morning I would wake up with my wrists itching, and I would scratch it really quickly & tons of little welts would pop up instantly.

It would go away within about 2 hours.

I figured it was bed mites...might have been, although maybe it was the Chiggers?

batlass & botfly are 2 different things.

The batlass cause those terrible bites where you get fever, swell up, incredibly itchy.

Looks like you have the right advice above.

there are too many insect problems to think about. My daughter said that her swelling is not any worse today, after taking the antibiotics that she had with her. The program people will take her to Dangriga in the morning if she is not better. I hope it is just a bad reaction to the no-see-ums and not one of these other gross things!
thanks for the help.

Drinking lots of water helped my swelling considerably, it's important to stay hydrated.

"Fortunately, getting one is an extremely unlikely occurrence for the average visitor."

Oh, Simon - how I wish we weren't in that 'rare' category!! We returned on 12/26 from our 9 days in Belize and just yesterday I took my 20 yr old to the dermatologist for a 'cyst' on his back that just wasn't cooperating with hot compresses. When he mentioned to the doctor that we'd been in Belize and suspected the possibility of a botfly, the doctor actually got quite excited! Said he'd only seen it in med school and immediately went to work on my son! Seems my hot compresses killed the larvae so he probably would have had a nasty infection in a short time anyway, but after opening him up, there it was! The entire office staff had to take a look - probably the most fun they've had in along time! He ended up with 4 inside stitches and 4 outside - quite the memento! Truth be told.....he's gonna use that story for a loooong time - it's a guy thing - and it sure wouldn't keep us from doing it all over again.!

Amanda, do you have any info on the Batlass, I can't find anything out there. I assumed that that the others were spelling botfly incorrectly.

The other fly that is NOT one of my favourites as I don't react well to them is the Doctor Fly http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/livestock/yellow_fly.htm usually putting ice on the bite stops the reaction to that one. I remember once being bitten on the thumb by one and you could literally see the red line creeping up my arm as the toxin moved up through my blood stream.