A Short Story • An Encounter With A Fly
Water village off Kota Kinabalu, Borneo
On a cruise around the South China Sea one port of call on Borneo was Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. While walking around the city I was bitten by something on my calf. It stung a bit but I didn’t think much about it. A few days later I started to get sick – stomach problems and a headache and the bite had swollen up with a tiny hole in the center.
Market Kota Kinabalu, Borneo
At the time our older son was a reptile specialist who worked with imports from around the world. In telling him what happened he immediately knew what I was dealing with. He said that the insects come in with the crates and he’s been bitten a number of times and thought it was a botfly. The botfly when it bites actually implants an egg that soon turns into a larvae that is particularly notable for burrowing just beneath the skin and creates a breathing hole.
His recommendation was to get clear nail polish and put a drop right over the hole and let it dry. The ladies in the ships spa thought it was funny what I needed the nail polish for. It did work and within a couple of hours the swelling went down and the next days I was doing much better.
When we travel we carry a first aid kit that holds medications, bandages, anti-bacterial cream, anti-itch creams, malaria pills, mosquito repellent and even super glue but now we’ve added clear nail polish.
There are actually a number of botfly species that mostly inhabit tropical regions. For a link that shows just how really bazaar this creature can be click HERE.
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