"Take a look at this", said my neighbor, holding out a small plastic bottle in front of me.
I peered into it and saw a small white worm wriggling inside.
Why was she showing me a creature like this?
"Alright." I said, " But if this your latest hobby, I think I'll have to find a new friend."
"Guess where I found it." she said, obviously not getting the sarcasm.
" Under my skin!"
I shot up as if I had been hit by a bolt of lightning. "What??..... How??"
She explained, "Yesterday, I had a terrible pain near my shoulder. I could see a small boil coming up. But it was unusually painful. When I got up in the morning it was worse. I went to the doctor. He popped the boil and out came this worm!"
Creepy!.......The stuff nightmares are made of.
The creature reminded me of a scene from a strange sci-fi movie called BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY, which I had watched long back when I was a teenager. Today I shuddered exactly the way I had two decades ago, when one of the boys is shown pulling a worm out of his ear.......Uggghh!
That worm happens to be the larva of a mango fly.
This little fly lays eggs on clothes which have been put out to dry. Needless to say, the eggs hatch when they come in contact with the skin and the larva feeds on living tissues in our body. Its best to iron the clothes really well after taking them out of the sun.
After all, prevention is better than cure.
