A Rare Case of Human Urogenital Myiasis Caused by Chironomus crassicaudatus (Diptera: Chironomidae) from Kolkata, India

Abstract Infestation by the Dipteran insect larvae is one of the public health problems in tropical countries, including India. Calliphorid flies are reported to cause various types of myiases, including urogenital myiasis. Besides, non-myiasis-producing flies also occasionally invade human or animal tissues and cause myiasis. For the first time, we report here, an uncommon type of myiasis of the urogenital system due to an infestation by Chironomus larvae. A 19-year-old female patient from a poor socio-economic background from Kolkata, India attended the outpatient department with a complaint of passing worms in her urine with one-to-five larvae, several times a day, for four weeks. Another member of the family had a similar complaint. The larvae isolated from the patient were identified to be Chironomus crassicaudatus (Diptera: Chironomidae). It was probable that Chironomid flies breeding in and around the dwellings had infested the urethra. The patient was successfully treated with albendazole. Implementing overall environmental and personal hygienic living conditions, eliminating fly breeding habitats, and avoiding sharing of a common toilet facility are important measures to avoid such kind of fly infestation.