Sonographic detection of subcutaneous fly larvae in human myiasis

Sonographers increasingly face imported diseases such as subcutaneous myiasis. In myiasis, some fly species such as the American Dermatobia hominis and the African Cordylobia anthropophaga use humans as intermediate hosts for the maturation of their larvae. High-resolution gray-scale and color Doppler sonography enabled us to identify D hominis larvae in 2 travelers to Central America by visualizing their typical shape, segmentations, and the continuous fluid transport inside the larval body cavity and spiracles. The small C anthropophaga larva in an individual returning from Namibia was initially not detected. Only when using color Doppler sonography was the larva discerned by its intralarval fluid transport. Sonography enables clinicians to locate viable subcutaneous larvae in suspected cases of myiasis.