Monday, June 19, 2017

Case of the Week 449

The following object was found in a toilet and submitted to the parasitology lab. Identification? What is the significance of this finding? Images taken by my fabulous education specialist, Emily Fernholz.




10 comments:

Amina said...

Eristale larva

HB Song said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HB Song said...

Interesting case.
The shape is rat-tailed maggot. I cannot specify the species.
Probably rectal or anal examination is needed to discover another.

Anonymous said...

Not a Human Parasite.

Very nice pictures of a Rat-tailed Larva. I don't know anything about these larva, other than they look neat and don't infect humans.

True Myiasis causing fly larva (maggots) don't have tails like this one, or foot like projections in picture three. They have spines that go the full way round the larva, and the location/amount/presence or absence of these spines aid in ID.

~Micro Michigan

Anonymous said...

Rat-tailed maggot, family Syrphidae. Not a human parasite

Anonymous said...

Wow, this beautiful case sent me to the literature search on rat-tailed maggot. This led to an excellent article from the University of Florida Entomology and Nematodes. There is a chance of accidental ingestion of contaminated food resulting into clinical symptoms. Unusual but interesting reading.
Florida Fan

David Bruce Conn said...

This is a rat-tailed maggot, larva of a hover fly belonging to the family Syrphidae. This one may be of the common genus Eristalis. They are not parasitic, but typically live in stagnant water and feed on organic material before pupating. They may incidentally live in toilets and latrines. There are rare reports of facultative myiasis by this group, but this is atypical. The long tail is a breathing tube that opens into the tracheal system.

Anonymous said...

Dimensioni?

William Sears said...

rat tailed maggot. Contamination likely with high organic matter, likely from surface water ponds. There are cases of human myiasis by these larvae. it can survive the stomach to be excreted so she could have ingested it. However, most likely contamination of water supply is the cause, I would guess.

Michele Calatri said...

It's a not-parasitic dipteran larva, probably Eristalis spp