Fly larva removed from the eye of a child with basil

Doctors lure three centimeters long larva out of the eye of a boy with the help of basil
From the eye of a Peruvian boy, a fly larva about three centimeters long was removed. With basil leaves, the doctors lured the larva out of the eye of the 16-year-old to grab them with tweezers. The patient has survived the procedure relatively easily and, according to the doctors, will not sustain any permanent damage.

With an eye infection and heavily swollen left eye, the boy was admitted to the National Children's Hospital in the Peruvian capital Lima. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), doctors were able to quickly identify the cause of the condition. They discovered a fly larva that had settled in the boy's eye. The question then came up as to how best to remove it. The physicians came up with the idea, first to perform any surgery, but instead lure the larva with basil and then remove them with tweezers.

With the help of basil, the doctors were able to lure the fly larva out of the eye of the Peruvian boy. (Image: bluedesign / fotolia.com)

Junge was living with the fly larva for a month
About a month before the boy came to the clinic, the larvae had probably nested behind the youth's eye, reports the news channel "N24". According to the Peruvian Ministry of Health, the boy is from the rainforest area in the center of Peru. In his hometown Pozuzo, he was first prescribed medications, as the doctors assumed normal ocular inflammation. However, because the complaints did not recede, the teenager traveled to the about 530 kilometers away children's hospital in Lima, where the MRI examination revealed the cause of the complaints.

Basil leaves lured the larva out
Ophthalmologist Caroline Marchena from the National Children's Hospital in Lima explained that the larva was a serious threat to the boy's health because the swelling was located near sensitive parts of the face from which infections can easily spread to the brain ... Immediate removal of the larva was therefore required, but surgical intervention would also have entailed considerable risks. Therefore, the doctors started a trial with basil. They put the leaves on the boy's eye to stimulate the appetite of the larva with their intense smell and to lure it out. The attempt succeeded and the larva stuck her head out. The doctor was able to grab this with the tweezers and pull out the fly larva. The boy has survived the procedure unscathed and is unlikely to suffer permanent damage. The larvae found belong to the genus of the david fly "Dermatobia hominis", which is particularly widespread in tropical regions, so the message of the news channel "N24". (Fp)