Worst Souvenir Ever: Colorado man brings botflies back from Belize

By Joshua | July 23rd, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Most travelers bring a bottle of One Barrel Rum back from their vacation to Belize, or perhaps some Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce. Aaron Dallas picked up an infestation of botfly worms under his scalp. As reported in the “weird” news section of a UK newspaper (”Man surprised by face bug infestation“), Dallas first thought the bleeding bumps in his head might have been gnat bites. “A specialist thought it was shingles, though both doctors held out the possibility that it was something far more disturbing. Then the bumps started moving…” Botflies are “large, stout bodied, hairy flies that resemble bumblebees,” whose eggs are sometimes deposited under mammalian skin by mosquitoes. Botflies are usually nothing more than an urban legend among Belize tourists, i.e. everyone knows someone who knows someone who’s been infested, but I’ve never seen one in all my years of traveling to Belize. It usually takes going pretty deep into the jungle to get so lucky. I wonder where Mr. Dallas picked up his hitchhikers—perhaps in the Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve?

Aspen Times article: “Larvae Drive Carbondale Man Buggy”