A new human otomyiasis caused by the larvae of Parasarcophaga harpax

Abstract

Larvae of a sarcophagid fly Parasarcophaga harpax (Pandelle, 1896) were collected from a one day old new-born female in Tokyo, causing otomyiasis. This is a new report of otomyiasis in Japan since 1945, and the first report of the disease caused by this species of the fly. Of three larvae collected from the patient and kept in saline, one was mounted on a slide and two were cultured in horse meat. One male and one female adult flies emerged and both were identified as the above species. The patient was born in a women's hospital on 25 June, 1968, and her mother recognized three larvae coming out of her year in the next morning. At the examination by a phisician in the same afternoon, three more larvae were found in the outer auditory canal, and two other larvae were seen in the tympanic cavity through a hole on the tympanic membrane. Detailed descriptions and discussions were made on the clinical signs observed, and the taxonomic status of the specimmens of the fly obtained from the patient. This case is noteworthy in that she was only one-day old newborn, and that the species of the fly was new as a cause of myiasis.