2l6 MYIASIS 



The extreme rapidity with which maggots deposited in the 

 nasal cavity may cause serious trouble is well illustrated by an 

 experiment carried out by Wellman.(i9o6). He studied a fly of 

 the genus SarcopJiaga, near regnlaris, Wied. 



"It is viviparous and I have seen it depositing its ]arv;\; on decaying meat and feces 

 and, on one occasion, in wounds. The larvae are small when first deposited (four to 

 five millimetres long), but before pupating reach the length of fourteen millimetres or 

 more." For the experiment a goat was used. "The method adopted was as 

 follows : A large number of flies (seventy) were caught in an improvised fly trap 

 baited with decaying meat. The goat was chloroformed and placed under a mosquito 

 curtain, and tied in such a manner that it could not move its head or otherwise 

 protect itself from flies. Then the edges of its nostrils were painted with water in 

 which had been macerated pieces of putrid meat, and the flies liberated under the 

 curtain. The flies could be seen entering the nostrils (which had been previously 

 examined with a speculum, and were known to be in a healthy condition, and to 

 contain no maggots) from time to time. The goat was untied at the end of an hour 

 and tied where it could be watched. 



"The goat seemed to experience little discomfort from the time of the experiment 

 (3 p.m.) until next morning, although it could be heard sneezing in the night- The 

 following morning, however, it could not eat, and w&s thirsty, feverish and seemingly 

 in pain, as it bleated constantly. The odour frorn the nostrils was extremely fetid, 

 although maggots could not be seen on external examination. By the evening it was 

 very ill and would not'stand up. It was killed on the morning of the third day and a 

 post-mortem examination made at once. The post-mortem findings were as follows : 

 The anterior nares unaffected. The posterior nares and frontal sinuses were 

 extensively eroded and of a dark colour, in some places almost purple. In no instance 

 were the lesions deep enough to involve the bone or even the periosteum. The 

 maggots themselves were plentiful throughout the frontal sinuses and posterior nares, 

 in some places being packed together in writhing masses." Two were present in the 

 pharynx, but none in the trachea, bronchi, oesophagus, stomach or Eustachean tubes. 

 "In all, one hundred and thirty-eight maggots were turned out, most of them of 

 nearly full size^." 



Wellman thinks the severe inflammation and necrosis was 

 entirely due to the maggots, as two other control goats with 

 their nostrils similarly painted, but not exposed to flies, showed 

 no symptoms. 



Austen (1912) records a case of myiasis of the nose, attended 

 with a profuse watery discharge of several weeks' duration and 

 pain, due to the larva; of Piophila casci. The case occurred in 

 England, and the flies were bred from the larvae. 



The larv?e of flies of the genus Qistnis live in the nasal passages 

 and neighbouring sinuses of sheep and some other ruminants. 

 " The eggs are laid on the victim's nose, and the newly hatched 

 maggots are said to creep up the nostrils. When the maggot is 



