Pest Of The Week: The Fruit Fly

Fruit fly (Photo credit: John Tann)

Fruit flies are part of a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies.

The Fruit fly has a very short lifespan, and shows gradual signs of maturing. As in other species of flies, temperature plays an important role in influencing the lifespan, of this pest.

Generally considered a simple nuisance, some Fruit flies destroy figs, raspberries and cherries, and are designated a serious agricultural pest; and pest control problem.

Links Round-Up: January 4, 2012

The Most Popular 2012 Pest Control Blog Posts From FMC Pest Wire 

http://www.fmcpestwire.com/2013/01/the-most-popular-2012-pest-control-blog-posts-from-fmc-pest-wire/  

How To Pack Your Christmas Decorations So As To Deter Pests

http://allamericanpestcontrol.com/how-to-pack-your-christmas-decorations-so-as-to-deter-pests/  

Top 10 Reasons to use Macy’s in 2013! 

http://www.macyspestcontrol.com/blog/top-10-reasons-to-use-macys-in-2013/ 

Pest Control Services: Do Bug Bombs Work?

http://www.resteasypestcontrol.com/blog/bid/255472/Pest-Control-Services-Do-Bug-Bombs-Work  

Pest Control: Maybe Roaches Aren’t So Bad?

http://www.pinnaclepestcontrol.com/grand-rapids-pest-control/pest-control-maybe-roaches-arent-so-bad/  

Birds May Use Cigarette Butts to Repel Pests

http://ehspest.com/_blog/RI,_MA_EHS_Pest_Control_Blog/post/Birds_May_Use_Cigarette_Butts_to_Repel_Pests/  

Pest Control Tip: Bee Awareness 

http://www.completelawn.net/pittsburgh-pest/pest-control-tip-bee-awareness/

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Anthony Ball

Imagine an excruciating burning and itching inside your ear. After three days of constant pain and ear tugging, you are shocked to discover a maggot crawling out of your ear; and the worst part… Not being able to tell anybody about it! That’s exactly what happened to 92 year old Catherine McCann of Arlington Heights, Illinois.

57 Maggots Found Living Inside Woman’s Ear

CBS Chicago reports that 92 year old Catherine McCann was living in an Arlington Heights’ nursing home, and was unable to speak because her Alzheimer’s disease. While living in the $10,000 a month nursing home, the elderly woman had a fly crawl into her ear and lay eggs. The result was 57 maggots that hatched inside the woman’s ear canal.

After three days, a nursing home aid grew concerned over Mrs. McCann’s constant tugging of her ear and brought her to the nursing home’s medical director. It wasn’t until then, when the maggots were discovered. Mrs. McCann was sent directly to Northwest Community Hospital.

Removing The Ear Maggots

Doctors removed all 57 maggots from Mrs. McCann’s left ear. The woman’s daughter, Mary McCann Stassen, could barely look at pictures of her poor mother’s ear, and said the worst part was, “hearing her mother scream as they were taking the maggots out.”

“It’s a picture I will never, ever get out of my mind –ever.”

The infestation was documented by doctors at Northwest Community Hospital who made a videotape of the scene before beginning extraction. The tape was so graphic, however, CBS declined to air it.

After the gruesome incident, an exterminator examined the nursing home for flies, but couldn’t find any. Officials believe that the fly must have flown into Mrs. McCann’s ear canal when she was taken out for her daily walk.

Ear Maggot Lawsuit

After the horrific ear maggot incident, Mrs. McCann’s husband is suing the Lutheran Home for the Aged nursing home for negligence and emotional distress. Just nine days prior to the ear maggot infestation, Mrs. McCann had her ears treated for a wax build and was prescribed ear drops to prevent infection.

The family is questioning whether or not she received the medication in her ear after the treatment, because one would think you’d notice the 57 maggots while administering the medicine drops.
The Lutheran Home for the Aged nursing home admits to no wrong doing, stating that the maggots were not big enough for their staff to see them at the time. The nursing home had been very well respected up until the recent incident.

Maggots

A maggot is the tiny, white, worm-like larva of a fly. They look much like a grain of white rice and feed on rotten or dead organic tissue. Fly eggs are laid directly on a food source and when the eggs hatch, the maggots move towards their preferred conditions and begin to feed.

Flies quickly reproduce during the summer months, and maggots can appear in massive quantities. Often times this creates a maggot infestation, and increases the risk of myiasis. Humans are not immune to the feeding habits of maggots and can also contract myiasis.

Ear Spider

This news about ear maggots comes to us shortly after learning of a spider living in a woman’s ear.

A woman living in China had to have a spider removed from the inside of her ear after experiencing some major ear canal itching and burning. The spider made its way inside her ear canal while she was sleeping and had been living there for approximately five days.

The spider couldn’t be removed with surgical tools, because the attempt would only drive the spider deeper inside the women’s ear and force it to dig its barbs into the ear canal. Instead of manually retracing the embedded spider, a doctor opted to flush it out with saline solution. The procedure was a success, and the women reportedly wept with gratitude after the spider crawled out.

If that incident isn’t a big enough reason for spider control, I don’t know what is!

In Related News: Ear Plug Sales On The Rise

With all of this recent news about maggots, spiders, and other creepy crawlies climbing into our ears, maybe we’ll start to see a sharp increase in the sales of ear plugs.

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Anthony Ball

I recently had fun compiling a playlist on Spotify of popular songs about bugs. Natural progression took me to putting together a list of my top 10 movies featuring bugs. Here’s my list counting down from 10 to 1:

10. Antz (1998)

A neurotic worker ant (Woody Allen), named “Z” helps princess Bala (Sharon Stone) escape her suffocating royal life. While doing so he meets many new friends along the way and discovers his own individuality; all while falling in love with the princess. The film give’s audiences a glimpse into the dynamics of an ant colony, and is packed with the voice-overs of many famous actors.

Cover of Antz

Starring: Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez, Danny Glover, Christopher Walken, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd

9. Them! (1954)

Them! is a cult classic and the first bug movie ever made. The film was influenced by the fears over atomic energy testing in the 1950’s. Atomic tests in New Mexico cause ants to mutate into giant man-eating bugs that wreck havoc on humanity.

Them! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starring: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, James Arness, Joan Weldon

8. Mimic (1997)

A foolish entomologist, Dr. Susan Tyler, genetically engineers a bug to kill cockroaches in the New York subway system. The genetically engineered insect breeds, and rapidly evolves; having the ability to copy human form. Now the malevolent insects are out to destroy their only predator, by feasting on mankind!

Source: Bloodygoodhorror.com

Starring: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin

7. Eight-Legged Freaks (2002)

Giant spiders attack a small Arizona town. Assortments of horrific venomous spiders get exposed to a toxic chemical that causes them to develop and grow to mammoth proportions. Really bad CGI, and blood and guts galore, make this a cult classic. Watch for spider cameos by jumping spiders, tarantulas, trap-door spiders, and orb-weaver spiders.

Starring: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Scarlett Johansson

6. Bee Movie (2007)

Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) is a new college graduate who’s excited about starting a job at the “Honex” honey factory. Barry seeks out on his own adventure when things don’t go quite as he expects at the honey factory. He makes friends with a human (Renee Zellweger) who helps him sue the human race for taking all of the bee’s honey.

Cover of Bee Movie (Full Screen Edition)

Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates

5. The Fly (1986)

This brilliant remake of the 1958 original, is widely regarded as a classic. An eccentric scientist, Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldbloom), is in the finishing stages of testing his teleportation machine when a house fly gets into the machine with him. He slowly transforms into a grotesque half fly, half man monster.

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel

4. Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

A clumsy inventor unintentionally shrinks his kids, and the neighbor kids, down the size of bugs. They are thrown out with the trash, and must make their way back inside the home to get their father’s attention. The treacherous journey back across the yard involves encounters with a scorpion, a bee, and other perilous insects. This film might have one of the best titles of all time.

Starring: Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Matt Frewer, Kristine Sutherland

3. A Bugs Life (1998)

A group of grasshoppers bully a colony of ants until one particular ant (Flik) gets fed up. Flik ventures out of the colony in search of help and brings back circus bugs to combat the grasshoppers.

Cover of A Bug’s Life [Blu-ray]

2. Starship Troopers (1997)

We must not forget that other planets have bugs too, right? The heroes of Starship Troopers combat arachnid like bugs on the planet Klendathu. The film was a massive hit at the box office, and spawned lots of sequels.

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris

1. Arachnophobia (1990)

A recently discovered spider from Venezuela is accidently brought to a small American town, breeding with local spiders. This creates a new race of poisonous spiders that begin killing off town residents one at a time. Jeff Daniels overcomes his fear of spiders as he battles them to their death. John Goodman makes for one heck of an exterminator.

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Julian Sands, Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman

What Do You Think?

I had a lot of fun putting together this list of popular movies about bugs, but this is just my opinion. What are your favorite bug movies? I’d live to hear from you!

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Anthony Ball