Sunday, July 11, 2010

THE BOT FLY

There are some pretty nasty creatures and things that we are getting used to here. This is one of them. There used to be a fly that laid eggs in humans and animals and the larvae would suck your blood and kill you in a week. That has been eradicated but this fly still exists. In fact the cows here in our community our infected with them. They have open oozing sores that our bloody, full of pus and at times you can see the larvae. Luckily we had been warned about these from volunteers here in Costa Rica....so when my foot started to swell, I started to wonder. One night Joe and I put clear packing tape over my foot and when I woke up there was a steamy air pocket. We went for a walk and a masking taped my foot with a roll. When we got back and took the tape off, this is what happened.
Joe and I haven't gotten any more, but masking tape has become our friend. If a bite has been around for a few weeks and still has a lump, it gets the masking tape treatment. Luckily they have all been false alarms. We have learned a new trick from this though: masking tape takes away the itch. Forget hydrocortisone cream, try masking tape!
This is the tail that got stuck. Luckily Joe pulled it out before it went back in and started to grow all over again.
The video we couldn't get to download, but on Joe's flicker page you can find out. Set to Star Trek music because our language was not appropriate.