Efa animal. Efa snake
For reference! When the larva moves to the next stage, it no longer poses any danger to humans.
Infection with cutaneous myiases can occur in several ways:
Oral (dental) myiasis is diagnosed less frequently than cutaneous myiasis, but it can also cause problems for a person. The larva enters the oral cavity along with food. The disease is accompanied by symptoms such as:
- constant itching in the mouth;
- swelling of the gums;
- nasal congestion;
- long continuous cough;
- general malaise;
- increased body temperature;
- fever;
- bleeding gums.
The disease is caused by the oral route and is caused by the larvae of the Wohlfarth fly. The risk group includes patients who do not follow the rules of personal hygiene, for example, do not brush their teeth at least once a day. The disease can also affect people who have purulent wounds in the mouth, alcoholics, and the elderly.
Intestinal myiasis is diagnosed when the larva first enters the oral cavity and then moves to the gastrointestinal tract. When the intestines become infected, the patient experiences severe abdominal pain.
Intracerebral infection is extremely rare. The symptoms of this disease are slightly different from the usual disease. The patient is worried about convulsive conditions, high body temperature, back pain, and the appearance of boils.
Important! To cure intracerebral myiasis, surgery is necessary. The surgeon will mechanically remove all larvae.
How to diagnose an infection?
Diagnostic measures are based on identifying fly larvae in wound discharge, urine, vaginal smear or vomit. It is extremely important to ensure that the material for analysis is selected in compliance with sanitary standards.
The doctor makes the diagnosis of cutaneous myiasis after a thorough examination of the affected area using a magnifying glass and good lighting. These devices make it possible to detect the movement of larvae inside the wound. To confirm the diagnosis of otomiasis, you will need to consult an otolaryngologist, and eye pathology will be identified by an ophthalmologist.
Traditional recipes are used as additional treatment.
- For effective treatment you will need sulfur and birch tar. Take 4 large spoons of tar liquid and mix with 6 grams of sulfur and 3 small spoons of Vaseline. Ready-made homemade ointment should be used for skin infections.
- You can make healing tea from currants and fennel. This drink is useful for intestinal myiasis. You can also add cumin and cinnamon as seasonings to the dish. As a preventive measure, take garlic and onions regularly.
- In case of intestinal infection, drink an infusion of celandine. For cooking you will need a large spoon of chopped herbs. It should be filled with a glass of boiling water. The finished product is drunk in the morning and afternoon before meals.
Preventive measures
- To prevent these types of diseases, it is important to comply with sanitary and hygiene requirements. And keep the products clean.
- If you have pets in your home, it is important to monitor their health and treat wounds in a timely manner.
- If a person has open wounds on his body, then the bandages should be changed regularly.
- It is better to clean the room using disinfectants.
Timely measures will have a positive effect on curing the disease. But it’s better to take care of your health in advance!
Myiases are diseases caused by the penetration of the larvae of certain flies into the body of humans and animals. According to the localization of the larvae, tissue, cavitary and mixed myiases are distinguished, and according to their lifestyle - random, facultative and obligate.
Random myiases
Intestinal myiases. They occur when small newborn fly larvae are accidentally swallowed, which, in cases of low acidity of gastric juice, penetrate alive into the intestines, where they can even develop somewhat. It is assumed that the latter is possible in individuals prone to aerophagia, since oxygen is required for the development of larvae. With intestinal myiases, irritation and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract is observed. Patients complain of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and frequent bowel movements. Larvae are excreted in feces, and less commonly in vomit. The causative agents of intestinal myiases are the larvae of house flies, house flies, gray, green and blue blow flies, as well as fruit flies and cheese flies.
Urinary myiases. Houseflies and other flies sometimes lay eggs on laundry that has been soaked in urine or soiled with feces. The larvae hatching from the eggs penetrate the urethra and bladder, causing pain when urinating and sometimes urinary retention.
Prevention. It is necessary to combat flies, protect food products from them, and observe public and personal hygiene measures. Water from open reservoirs should be drunk only after boiling and filtering.
Facultative myiases
Green and blue blowflies usually lay eggs in animal carcasses and meat waste, house flies and house flies in human excrement, rotting plant matter, manure, gray blowfly in feces, and sometimes in human food. Flies can also lay eggs and larvae in human wounds, noses and festering ears. Typically, the larvae do not cause harm and even promote wound healing by eating pus and secreting bactericidal substances. At one time, the so-called surgical fly larvae (Calliphora and others) were used in the treatment of wounds and osteomyelitis. However, with larvae taken from their natural habitat, the causative agents of tetanus and gas gangrene are sometimes introduced into wounds. Subsequently, they began to obtain sterile larvae of blue blowflies. Nowadays, these treatment methods are not used in surgical practice, and larvae that have entered the human body are removed with tweezers or rinsing.
Obligate myiases
Malignant myiases are caused mainly by the larvae of the Wohlfart fly (Wohlfahrtia magnibica), common in Southern Europe, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mongolia, China, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the central and southern zones of Russia.
The fly lays 120-160 very mobile larvae, about 1 mm long, on the skin of humans and animals. They quickly penetrate through the skin deep into the tissues, down to the bones, and move into the eyes, nose, ears and even the brain, exerting a mechanical, allergoid and enzymatic effect on the tissue. In a person infested with Wohlfarth fly larvae, necrosis and suppuration occur, and extensive destruction of tissues and organs occurs. Cases of complete destruction of the eyeball by larvae, destruction of the scalp, and the occurrence of osteomyelitis, encephalitis, and severe damage to the female genital organs under their influence are described. Fatalities are known. The disease progresses with extraordinary speed.
Wohlfarth fly larvae develop very quickly: after 3-5 days they become mature, leave the host and pupate in the soil.
Treatment of malignant myiasis consists of washing wounds with chloroform water or irrigating with a solution of chloroform in vegetable oil, removing euthanized larvae with tweezers, removing necrotic tissue, opening abscesses, using antibacterial drugs, and administering antitetanus serum.
The Wohlfarth fly lays larvae primarily on ungulates. In order to prevent and combat malignant myiasis, periodic examinations of farm animals (sheep, etc.) and removal of fly larvae are of great importance.
Benign myiases are caused by larvae that develop singly and slowly. There are African and South American myiases.
African myiasis
At the site where the larvae penetrate the skin, an infiltrate appears, similar to a boil and covered with a crust, under which there is a cavity with the larvae. After 12-15 days, the larva reaches a length of 12-17 mm, emerges from the skin, falls onto the soil and pupates here.
Treatment is carried out by irrigating the infiltrate with water or filling it with petroleum jelly. Due to lack of air, the larvae protrude the back of their body. This makes it possible to remove them with tweezers, after which recovery quickly occurs.
Prevention. Deratization, wearing shoes, exterminating flies, sanitary improvement of beaches. It is not recommended to lie on the sand without bedding.
South American myiasis
South American myiasis occurs in Mexico, Argentina and other countries in Central and South America. The causative agent is the larva of the fly Dermatobia hominis. The female fly lays eggs on the body of mosquitoes, jet flies and some ticks. After 6 days, larvae form in the eggs, but they leave the egg shells only when the insects and mites on which they are located land on humans or animals (cattle, pigs, etc.). The larvae quickly penetrate the skin, where they slowly grow and develop. After 5-10 weeks they reach 25 mm in length, fall out onto the soil and pupate.
An infiltrate with a hole appears around the embedded larvae, from which serous-purulent fluid flows. Lesions are located mainly on the limbs, back, abdomen, and armpits. A case of death of a 1.5-year-old child with multiple infestations by the larvae of this fly is described.
Treatment is carried out by removing the larvae with tweezers.
Prevention is carried out through routine examination of domestic ungulates and treatment of patients, control of blood-sucking insects and ticks using repellents.
Myiases caused by botfly larvae
There are cavitary and cutaneous myiases.
Cavity myiases Caused by the larvae of the Russian sheep botfly (Rhinoestrum purpureus and Oestrus ovis). The females of these gadflies, in flight, release larvae into the nostrils of horses and sheep, less often into the eyes, and even more rarely into the nose of a person. A distinction is made between external ophthalmomyasis, when the larvae penetrate only the eyelids, lacrimal sac and conjunctiva, and internal, when they penetrate into the internal environment of the eye. Conjunctivitis and dacryocystitis occur. Possible blindness. The larvae in the eye are very mobile, so the eye is first anesthetized and only then the larvae are removed with tweezers or by rinsing with water. When the larvae of the Russian and sheep botflies penetrate the nose, rhinitis occurs with copious discharge, and a constant headache is noted. Treatment consists of removing the larvae.
Cutaneous myiases are caused by the larvae of the horse's gastric gadfly (Gastrophilus intestinalis) and the skin gadfly of cattle (Hypoderma bovis, H. lineata).
Cattle cutaneous botflies (N. bovis and N. lineata) glue eggs one at a time to animal fur or human hair. The larvae that hatch from them penetrate the skin and migrate there. After a few months, a “tumor” forms around them under the skin with a hole through which the larva comes out. The larvae of the first stage of H. bovis in the host's body necessarily migrate through the spinal canal, penetrating into it along the nerves. From here, through the intervertebral foramina, they move under the skin. Cases of penetration of cutaneous botfly larvae into the anterior chamber of the eye and eyelid have been described.
Treatment of cutaneous myiases is carried out by surgical removal of the larvae.
In fact, these are not just stories. Of course, much of all the talk about this snake is exaggerated, but the truth is that its venom is indeed very toxic. Every year many die from ephas bites. The sand ephas ranks seventh among the twenty most dangerous snakes to humans. In Africa, more people die from its venom than from all African snakes combined.
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Efa is a not very large snake, half the size of a cobra or viper, its length is about 70-80 cm. Males, on average, are slightly larger than females. But, despite its small size, by snake standards, the efu is very difficult not to notice. It is golden sandy in color. Large white spots appear throughout the body, with a light zigzag drawn on the side. The underside is light yellow, sometimes with brown dots arranged in the form of stripes, and on the head you can see a kind of cross.
Efa lives throughout northern Africa to Algeria, and in the south it is distributed to Abyssinia. In addition, it is found in Palestine, Arabia, Persia and the west of the Hindustan Peninsula. Lives in lumpy sands overgrown with saxaul, in clay deserts, thickets of bushes, on river cliffs and in ruins. In favorable conditions, efa can be very numerous. For example, in the valley of the Murgab River, over an area of about 1.5 km, snake catchers produced more than 2 thousand ef.
Efa is an amazing snake. In many ways it differs from its cold-blooded counterparts. For example, ephas may not hibernate if the winter is not cold. They can mate in January. And by March, small snakes appear, while in other snakes they appear no earlier than June. Surprisingly, the efa does not lay eggs and gives birth to live snakes. The female brings from 3 to 16 young reptiles 10-16 cm long.
Despite the fact that the epha is one of the most poisonous snakes, it rarely attacks living creatures that are larger than a vole. Most often, its prey is centipedes, spiders, grasshoppers, and midges. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the efa is quite nimble and cannot, like many snakes, simply lie in the sun. But in order to digest large prey, you need to be at rest for a long time.
Efa is characterized by sideways movement. She throws her head to the side, then brings the back of her body forward and pulls up the front of her body. This method creates better body support on a loose substrate. Because of this method of movement, a characteristic mark remains on the sand - individual oblique stripes with hooked ends.
Efa very rarely crawls into people's houses, but it still happens sometimes. Similar cases have been recorded in Egypt. You need to be especially careful with ruins or abandoned houses. In 1987, three children died in Cairo after finding a nest in an abandoned house where no one had lived for many years. The children entered this house out of curiosity and accidentally disturbed the ef family hiding there. The snake, protecting its newly born offspring, attacked the children. They could not be saved because the poison acted very quickly.
In India, sand faff is very common. Settles in areas where there is sandy soil. Here she is credited with most of the deaths caused by snake bites; Workers in the fields especially suffer from it.
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Although efa is considered one of the most dangerous snakes, more than half of all its attacks occurred due to the negligence of man himself. If the snake thinks that it or its offspring are in danger, it will defend itself fiercely. The energy, mobility and speed with which the efa defends and attacks makes a great impression. As soon as the snake senses danger, it begins to wriggle in a special way, forming two semi-lunar curves from its body and keeping its head ready to attack in the middle of one of these curves. At the same time, she does not remain calm for a minute, but constantly turns right and left. The snake remains in an offensive position as long as a person or animal is nearby and sinks its teeth into every object it can reach. She is said to be able to make jumps as high as half her body. Therefore, it is better not to approach the snake at a distance of less than three meters. During a defensive position, this snake still makes a characteristic sound. Its sandy fret is produced by friction of the side scales.
As already noted, the poison of efa is very toxic. It sharply reduces the level of fibrinogen in the blood, which causes heavy bleeding, both in the bite area and in other “weak” places, especially from the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth. The remaining symptoms of poisoning are typical for most venomous snakes. Every fifth person bitten by ephas dies. To stop the effect of the poison that has entered the body until doctors arrive or until the victim is taken to the nearest hospital, a number of actions must be taken. A first aid measure for a bite is to immediately suck out the venom from the wounds, so that a significant part of the venom can be removed from the body. Squeezing out the venom with your fingers and suctioning should be done within 7-10 minutes after the bite. Suctioning is completely safe for the people doing it. A tourniquet should not be applied. It practically does not delay the process of absorption of poisons.
To avoid having to use these actions in life, you must be careful, especially if you know that there may be a sand efa nearby. Because of its light spots, the efu is easy to spot on the sand. The snakes themselves try to avoid people and go around the houses in which a person lives. And then - the efa never attacks without warning; it will certainly warn the uninvited traveler with its rustling sound, and can only bite when a person walks towards it or tries to grab it.
Length: 70–80 cm. Habitat: found in the foothills and valleys of Central Asia, throughout northern Africa to Algeria. |
This snake has a short name, like an exhalation: efa. She is known everywhere in Central Asia; in the valleys and foothills she was seen so often that people thought that efa was haunting them.
In fact, this snake is most afraid of people, and when they approach, it makes sounds similar to those we hear when sharpening knives on a grindstone. It is not for nothing that in Uzbekistan the efu is called “charkh iyylon” - which literally means a noisy snake. With these actions, the efa resembles a cobra, which raises its head and takes a threatening stance to stop the ill-wisher.
The most incredible tales are told about efa, especially about its potent poison. They say that from its bite a person immediately dies, and if he does not die, then he remains crippled forever. However, there is some truth in such stories. Indeed, the bite of an epha can be fatal for a person, and there were many cases where if a person did not die, he was sick for a long time. That is why in the past, when sending travelers on a long journey, they were advised to stay away from the formidable effects. However, those terrible times have long since sunk into oblivion, and the efu is now as difficult to find as many other snakes, most of which are on the verge of extinction. Nowadays, travelers travel more often by car, even getting to places where it is impossible to travel.
Efa is a small snake, its length can reach 70-76 centimeters. For comparison: the viper is 150 centimeters long, the cobra is slightly smaller - up to 130. But unlike the viper and cobra, the efa is beautiful and impressive. The side of the snake is decorated with a light zigzag stripe, its entire body is covered with white spots, and on the head there is a kind of cross mark, which distinguishes the efu from its other brothers. I have heard more than once that evil people used efu to eliminate their enemies. But ephs have long shunned people, and they never approach buildings; they crawl away as soon as they hear a person. And then - the efa never attacks, it will certainly warn the uninvited traveler with its rustling sound, and can only bite when a person steps on it.
Efa, in its behavior and way of life, is unlike any other snake. I myself had to deal with it more than once in a variety of circumstances.
In the Sumbar Valley near the village of Gerkez we were on an expedition, the purpose of which was to study reptiles during hibernation. So, on one of the warm January days - and here, in the Turkmen subtropics, they are not uncommon - a local boy came running and said that he had seen a snake wedding. We didn’t believe him: despite the warm weather, snakes, as a rule, do not wake up from hibernation. But I knew that ephas were an exception. They do not hide deeply during the winter, but in warm weather they can crawl out. But for snakes to mate in January... It is unlikely. But nevertheless, we hurried after the boy. And, indeed, we saw: a snake ball, like some kind of creature, was moving among the dry stems of grass. I was not mistaken: these were ephs, they did not pay any attention to us, at such moments almost all creatures lose caution.
The snake with the rather beautiful name efa is very often found in the foothills and valleys of Central Asia. There is so much talk about this snake here that efa is already becoming almost legendary. There is especially much talk about its danger to humans. A small drop of its poison is enough to kill an entire company of soldiers. If an efa bites, the person is doomed; even if he survives, he will remain crippled forever.
In fact, these are not just stories. Of course, much of all the talk about this snake is exaggerated, but the truth is that its venom is indeed very toxic. Every year many die from ephas bites. The sand ephas ranks seventh among the twenty most dangerous snakes to humans. In Africa, more people die from its venom than from all African snakes combined.
Efa is a not very large snake, half the size of a cobra or viper, its length is about 70-80 cm. Males are on average slightly larger than females. But, despite its small size, by snake standards, the efu is very difficult not to notice. It is golden sandy in color. Large white spots appear throughout the body, with a light zigzag drawn on the side. The underside is light yellow, sometimes with brown dots arranged in the form of stripes, and on the head you can see a kind of cross.
Efa lives throughout northern Africa to Algeria, and in the south it is distributed to Abyssinia. In addition, it is found in Palestine, Arabia, Persia and the west of the Hindustan Peninsula. Lives in lumpy sands overgrown with saxaul, in clay deserts, thickets of bushes, on river cliffs and in ruins. In favorable conditions, efa can be very numerous. For example, in the valley of the Murgab River, over an area of about 1.5 km, snake catchers produced more than 2 thousand ef.
Efa is an amazing snake. In many ways it differs from its cold-blooded counterparts. For example, ephas may not hibernate if the winter is not cold. They can mate in January. And by March, small snakes appear, while in other snakes they appear no earlier than June. Surprisingly, the efa does not lay eggs and gives birth to live snakes. The female brings from 3 to 16 young reptiles 10-16 cm long.
Despite the fact that the epha is one of the most poisonous snakes, it rarely attacks living creatures that are larger than a vole. Most often, its prey is centipedes, spiders, grasshoppers, and midges. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the efa is quite nimble and cannot, like many snakes, simply lie in the sun. But in order to digest large prey, you need to be at rest for a long time.
Efa is characterized by sideways movement. She throws her head to the side, then brings the back of her body forward and pulls up the front of her body. This method creates better body support on a loose substrate. Because of this method of movement, a characteristic mark remains on the sand - separate oblique strips with hooked ends.
Efa very rarely crawls into people's houses, but it still happens sometimes. Similar cases have been recorded in Egypt. You need to be especially careful with ruins or abandoned houses. In 1987, three children died in Cairo after finding a nest in an abandoned house where no one had lived for many years. The children entered this house out of curiosity and accidentally disturbed the ef family hiding there. The snake, protecting its newly born offspring, attacked the children. They could not be saved because the poison acted very quickly.
In India, sand faff is very common. Settles in areas where there is sandy soil. Here she is credited with most of the deaths caused by snake bites; Workers in the fields especially suffer from it.
Although efa is considered one of the most dangerous snakes, more than half of all its attacks occurred due to the negligence of man himself. If the snake thinks that it or its offspring are in danger, it will defend itself fiercely. The energy, mobility and speed with which the efa defends and attacks makes a great impression. As soon as the snake senses danger, it begins to wriggle in a special way, forming two semi-lunar curves from its body and keeping its head ready to attack in the middle of one of these curves. At the same time, she does not remain calm for a minute, but constantly turns right and left. The snake remains in an offensive position as long as a person or animal is nearby and sinks its teeth into every object it can reach. She is said to be able to make jumps as high as half her body. Therefore, it is better not to approach the snake at a distance of less than three meters. During a defensive position, this snake still makes a characteristic sound. Its sandy fret is produced by friction of the side scales.
As already noted, the poison of efa is very toxic. It sharply reduces the level of fibrinogen in the blood, which causes heavy bleeding, both in the bite area and in other “weak” places, especially from the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth. The remaining symptoms of poisoning are typical for most venomous snakes. Every fifth person bitten by ephas dies. To stop the effect of the poison that has entered the body until doctors arrive or until the victim is taken to the nearest hospital, a number of actions must be taken. A first aid measure for a bite is to immediately suck out the venom from the wounds, so that a significant part of the venom can be removed from the body. Squeezing out the venom with your fingers and suctioning should be done within 7-10 minutes after the bite. Suctioning is completely safe for the people doing it. A tourniquet should not be applied. It practically does not delay the process of absorption of poisons.
To avoid having to use these actions in life, you must be careful, especially if you know that there may be a sand efa nearby. Because of its light spots, the efu is easy to spot on the sand. The snakes themselves try to avoid people and go around the houses in which a person lives. And then - the efa never attacks without warning; it will certainly warn the uninvited traveler with its rustling sound, and can only bite when a person approaches it or tries to grab it.
Length: 70–80 cm.
Habitat: found in the foothills and valleys of Central Asia, throughout northern Africa to Algeria.
Danger!
One of the ten most poisonous snakes. Aggressive and very fast.