Woman Sneezes Out Live Larvae Due to Rare Infection

A 58-year-old woman in Greece has experienced a rare parasitic infection that resulted in her sneezing larvae from her nasal passages. The case, described as biologically implausible by medical professionals, involved the development of sheep bot flies within the woman’s sinuses.

The patient worked outdoors on a Greek island during the dry heat of September. According to a medical report, she first noticed numerous flies swarming around her face while working near a field of grazing sheep.

Approximately one week after the encounter with the flies, the woman began experiencing pain in her sinuses. This pain centered around the middle of her face and grew progressively worse over the following weeks.

Two to three weeks after the onset of the facial pain, she developed a severe cough. No other symptoms were reported until October 15, when the woman sneezed out what she described as a worm.

Surgical Extraction and Diagnosis

Following the incident on October 15, the patient sought medical attention from an ear, nose, and throat specialist. The specialist performed a surgical procedure to remove wriggling creatures from her maxillary sinuses, which are the large sinuses located on the sides of the nose.

The surgery resulted in the extraction of 10 larvae and one pupa, the life stage of an insect between the larval and adult phases.

Experts examined the extracted specimens and found that one larva was pale yellow and measured approximately 0.6 inches (15 millimeters) in length. A second larva was light brown and measured 0.8 inches (20 millimeters) in length. One of the recovered critters was nearly an inch long.

DNA testing subsequently confirmed that the parasites were baby sheep bot flies, known scientifically as Oestrus ovis.

Medical Context of Oestrus ovis

The sheep bot fly is a parasite that typically inhabits the nasal passages of goats, and sheep. In its natural cycle, the parasite grows and molts within these animals before being deposited into the soil for pupation.

While these flies are well-documented in livestock, they rarely infect humans. When human infections do occur, they most commonly manifest as ophthalmic myiasis, where the larvae reside around the eyes.

Medical reports indicate that, historically, these larvae were unable to develop past the first larval stage when infecting human cavities. This case is notable because the larvae developed into larger, wormlike creatures and reached the pupa stage within the human sinuses.

The woman made a full recovery following the surgical extraction and the use of nasal decongestants. None of her co-workers reported experiencing similar symptoms.