A farm labourer in rural India presents with a foul-smelling traumatic wound crawling with maggots. The larvae are identified morphologically as those of an Old World screwworm fly known for obligate myiasis. The causative agent is:
- A Dermatobia hominis
- B Cochliomyia hominivorax
- C Chrysomya bezziana ✓
- D Musca domestica
Correct answer: C. Chrysomya bezziana
Explanation
Chrysomya bezziana, the Old World screwworm, is the common cause of wound and traumatic myiasis in India and South-East Asia; its larvae invade living tissue of wounds and orifices. Cochliomyia hominivorax is the New World screwworm restricted to the Americas, and Dermatobia hominis, the human botfly, causes furuncular myiasis in Central and South America. Musca domestica larvae occasionally cause accidental or facultative myiasis but are not the classical screwworm of Indian case reports.
Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
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