Poster Presentation New Zealand Association of Plastic Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting

A case of Human Botfly digital myiasis mimicking a paronychia (1651)

Luke Curwell 1 , Amanda Taylor 1 , Andrew Graydon 1
  1. Starship Hospital, Saint Johns, AUCKLAND, New Zealand

Cutaneous infestation (myiasis) by the Human Botfly larva is common in Central and South America, but rarer in non-endemic regions, frequently posing a diagnostic challenge to healthcare personnel who are unfamiliar with it. This problem is compounded by the widespread availability of international travel which allows for secondary transportation of the parasite from its natural climes (once in situ) into regions where it is not commonly encountered. We describe a case of periungal botfly myiasis, initially thought to be paronychia, affecting the finger of a young traveller recently returned from Central America, which was notable because it presented atypically for both paronychia and botfly myiasis and the history and examination were restricted by the age of the child. Parasitic infection should remain high on the list of differentials when clinicians are presented with unusual cases not displaying unifying diagnostic features in recently returned travellers, particularly in young or non-communicative patients.