They do not carry other diseases with them and they do not cause complications themselves outside of the boil that they create. Mango worms do not pose a serious health risk. In rare cases, a visit to a clinic may be required to extract the worm. Alternatively, you can cover the boil with vaseline or a similar product and wait till the worm pops out on its own (the vaseline will cut off its access to oxygen). You simply have to wait for it to come out. There is no medication you can take that will kill the mango worm.

The heat will effectively kill the larvae.

By the same token, don’t roll around in the soil.Īs far as your clothes go, if you are in an area where mango worm is prevalent, it would be best to machine dry your clothes or iron them after leaving them out to line dry.

For one, do not walk around barefoot on soil. Mango worm is generally very uncommon for travelers to come across, but there are certainly a few steps you can take to really minimize your risk. The worm then falls to the ground where it buries itself in order to go into its final stage of growth before turning into a fly. It will itch and then get increasingly painful before it…Īctually opens up so the worm can come out to play. The larvae penetrate the skin of the host and take up residence in the subcutaneous tissue, a layer of skin that has fat and connective tissue filled with blood vessels and nerves.Īfter 8-12 days, a boil will have formed. You could come across them in another part of the world, too, but only if a human or animal traveled while infected with the worms.Īdult female worm lays a few hundred eggs into the soil OR onto some damp clothing that is hanging out to dry. Mango worms are found throughout tropical areas of sub-Saharan Africa, but is more common in certain regions (Central Africa, for example). It is technically a fly larva and it also goes by the names mango fly, putzi fly and tumbu fly depending on where you are. If you want to see more graphic content, you can scroll down to the video we have embedded in the post.įirst, the mango worm goes by many names. I think we’ve maxed out our “photos that make you queasy” quota, so we will go with a g-rated picture of some mangoes for this post.

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