Excision of a Dermatobia hominis larva from the heel of a South American traveler: a case report.

Abstract

Although foot and ankle specialists are well versed in treating insect bites and foreign bodies, many physicians in the United States are unfamiliar with parasitic organisms that are common in other parts of the world. This article presents a case of a patient inoculated in the posterior heel with the larva of a Dermatobia hominis, or human bot fly. Excision of the larva provided a complete resolution of the patient's symptoms. Although the initial clinical presentation suggested a simple foreign body, the patient's recent travel history to Brazil shows that a thorough history is essential to establishing a complete list of differential diagnoses.