I have a 2yo daughter that helps with the gardening.
I don't see how your daughter would find the opportunity to ingest BSF eggs or grubs. The girl in the article you referenced was most likely eating rotting fruit or vegetables. Either that or she experienced some extremely unlikely chain of events. Again, from the article:
Quote:
According to Harwood & James," the infestation of H illucens in humans occurs mainly via accidental ingestion of decaying fruits and vegetables contaminated with larvae/eggs.
By "accidental" ingestion of decaying fruits and vegetables I believe the authors are referencing the fact that this is not part of the design of BSF reproduction. People don't accidentally eat rotting food, but sadly they do sometimes scavenge food from trash. If you scavenge food from garbage cans you run the risk of swallowing BSF as well as many other risks I'm sure.
I live in south Georgia where BSF are natives and very common. There are plenty of gardens and I've seen plenty of 2 year olds, but I can't find any reports of myiasis caused by BSF. I imagine there must be a long list of fears you could have with a 2 y/o, including rattlesnakes, black widows, pesticides, rusty nails, and about a hundred soil parasites that actually do use humans as hosts by design. In my opinion the odds of your daughter contracting myiasis from BSF while helping in the garden are astronomically high to the point of it being a non-issue.
Originally Posted By: bobdog
I agree, and frankly I was surprised to see the USDA citation.
What is surprising about the fact that the authors of the article read and referenced a USDA publication about myiasis? Myiasis is an issue for anyone who raises livestock so I'm not surprised at all that the USDA addressed it in a past publication. What am I missing here?
