As far as the USDA article, for as benign as H Illucens generally is, I was surprised to see it as a cause of myaisis at all much less in a USDA guide to human myaisis. Not having read the publication, my guess is the flies laid eggs at the edge of privy "drop holes" and the eggs were transferred to the user's hand while wiping, then to the mouth via unwashed hand.
There is no reason to assume that USDA article even addresses BSF (Hermetia illucens). The researcher's in Malaysia cited a dozen reference works, some of which are about other species entirely. One of them is about how BSF naturally control the common housefly. These are simply articles that proved to be of some value in the researcher's efforts to identify the cause of myiasis in the subject. I doubt that publication is a "smoking gun" related to BSF.
Having said that, the real issue isn't whether BSF CAN cause myaisis, we know that it's possible from the 3-4 reported cases from around the world. I'm not surprised that BSF can cause it, the most important word being CAN. The real issue is how rare it is and how easy it is to prevent. It is extremely rare and very simple to prevent.
Let's put this into perspective. Your pet dog CAN kill or maim you or your family members. It's happened, and it's hundreds of times more likely than myiasis via BSF, yet people continue to own dogs. If I had a choice between being mauled by a dog or of experiencing the discomfort of passing a bug I'd choose the bug and a purgative.
I see that you're aware of the fact that BSF were often found in outhouses. They were called "privy flies" for this reason.
Quote:
"As a side note, at one time in the southern United States, the black soldier fly was called the "privy fly" as it controlled the common housefly around the privy. Again, leave these tough little flies alone and allow them to soldier on with their job in waste management, as a feed supplement, and protecting us against "pes(t)ky" flies." http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-51_black_soldier_fly.htm
I have a 50 y/o friend who used an outhouse as a kid and he remembers the BSF colony living in the pile. BSF are also often found in the manure under open chicken coops which were also very common in the past. As much as humans and BSF are present together there are still only a handful of BSF-myiasis cases ever reported in the world. This isn't a rare insect that causes a discomforting gastro-intestinal issue, it's a very common insect that under extremely rare circumstances can be the cause of GI discomfort, mostly in cases where people are eating spoiled food from open garbage. Myiasis from BSF is very rare because it requires an unusual chain of events including the ingestion of rotting food or the transference of extremely fragile eggs from places that people normally don't come into contact with such as handling open garbage. Please wash your hands if you handle exposed garbage.
This subject doesn't really deserve all of this attention, but it happens to be easily sensationalized. I'm concerned that people will let irrational fears stop them from working with BSF. If we based our decisions on every remote possibility then we wouldn't own pets, or eat at restaurants, or sit in theaters, or touch shopping cart handles, or garden, etc, etc. At least that's how I interpret the available data.
Originally Posted By: bobdog
my guess is the flies laid eggs at the edge of privy "drop holes" and the eggs were transferred to the user's hand while wiping, then to the mouth via unwashed hand. *grin* There are a couple even less pleasant routes, but I dont want to go there
bobdog, I'm not accusing you of intentionally trying to discourage people from culturing BSF, but I think you may be having that effect anyway. You're speculating how you think BSF eggs were transferred in a privy when you don't have any evidence that it even happened. What instance are you referring to when you say "and the eggs were transferred to the user's hand"? Which eggs were transferred and by what user's hand? Do you know of some case that you haven't mentioned here yet?
Also, I can't be sure what you meant by "less pleasant routes", but if it's what I'm thinking then you're totally off base to the point of being grossly misleading. You seem to be implying that BSF have somehow migrated into people other than the previously mentioned accidental ingestion of eggs or tiny larvae. That's simply wrong and I hope anyone reading this understands that.
