Maggots look terrifying and the mere thought of having to deal with them already makes our skin crawl. Are they only scary or annoying as they seem or do they pose a risk to us? Find out in the truth in this article.
So, are maggots dangerous? Yes, maggots are dangerous to your health. They carry numerous bacteria that may develop into transmittable diseases. Some diseases may be minor but there are also some that can be fatal.
- How dangerous maggots can be:
- Cause irritation (skin infections)
- Allergic reactions
- Myiasis
- High fever attacks
- Stomachache
- Food poisoning – vomiting, nausea
- Diarrhea
- Difficulty in breathing
- Swollen skin, swollen face
- Facial edema
- Uncontrolled weight loss
- Random body pain
- Risk of getting mild to severe deafness and blindness
- Anosmia (losing your sense of smell)
- Epidemic Conjunctivitis
The risk of maggots is no joke if we are talking about our health.
Get the Best Bug Zapper Here
Areas contaminated by maggots will also be contaminated by the same bacteria or diseases that they are carrying. They are eggs laid by flies and flies are known to sit and consume even the filthiest thing that they can find.
Touching the floor where the maggots were could already make a person sick because the floor is already dirty and the presence of maggots makes it twice as dirty!
They can’t harm us directly but they can definitely make us sick. So yes, maggots can definitely be dangerous and we shouldn’t take them lightly.
Once we catch sight of maggots within our area, it’s a sign that we must clean up right away. Better yet, clean the entire area.
After all, there won’t be maggots around unless there are places a fly would find suitable for laying eggs.
You will learn more about why maggots are dangerous as I tell you what kind of diseases and health risks they can bring.
Click Here to Book a Clean
What kind of diseases do maggots carry?
Contact with a maggot can lead to low allergic reactions to high fever attacks.
It can cause diarrhea and symptoms similar to food poisoning such as vomiting and feeling nauseous can also be observed. There is one common infection known that is mainly caused by the maggots.
Myiasis
Myiasis commonly occurs when humans make contact with maggots.
This infection happens when a person consumes a fly egg, or simply put “maggots”. It’s hard to imagine that someone would actually eat a maggot but it happens as an accident most of the time.
For example, someone left the food on the table unattended and uncovered for quite a while, leaving an opportunity for a fly to lay their eggs.
The egg usually looks like a small, oval shaped egg which can easily be mistaken for a part of the food.
Even as an egg, maggots are already contaminated by bacteria due to their parents. Adult flies would land anywhere, including waste, that makes their eggs as filthy as they are.
Myiasis is about maggot infestation when they are consumed or inside our bodies. They will feed on the tissues inside the body of an animal or a person because they can actually live inside the stomach, intestines and our mouths.
It sure sounds like a horror scene, but it is real and it happens. That is how dangerous maggots can be.
Once the maggot enters the body, it can cause severe irritation, random occurring fever, and difficulty in breathing as well as stomachache and diarrhea. It often results into gastric or intestinal myiasis.
For some cases, some people also experienced having a swollen skin or face because it is a sign of allergic reaction. Facial edema can occur because of consuming the maggots.
What happens if a maggot infests your body
Aside from accidentally consuming these maggots, they can also unknowingly enter our bodies and start their infestation. Fly maggots do not aim for body infestation but it can still happen.
Maggot infestation can also cause uncontrolled weight loss and unwanted body aches.
How dangerous maggots can be
What else can maggot myiasis do? Other than the risks you already read above, they also have other potential risks such as causing deafness, anosmia, and blindness.
Deafness
It’s terrible to imagine it, but maggots can sometimes enter our body through our ears. Once they do that, we may not know it immediately until our ears start feeling pain. Some may even experience headaches and bleeding from their ears.
If left untreated, it can lead to deafness. Maggots need to eat for five days so if they are within our bodies, they will have nothing to feed on but on us which leads to more pain.
Either they eat or they die inside the ears which really doesn’t change anything because it must be removed whether is it still alive or dead.
Anosmia
The inability to perceive odor is called anosmia. Simply put, your ability to smell things can be damaged or permanently destroyed. Maggots may also enter our body through our noses. They will infest the nose and will cause severe irritation and pain that can lead to bleeding.
It can also cause to develop further diseases and trigger skin allergic reactions such as facial edema.
Blindness
No matter how they entered our bodies even if it is through consumption or infestation, it will definitely develop unwanted diseases that can potentially harm our eyesight as well.
A disease called “EKC” or “Epidemic Conjunctivitis” is commonly known to be brought by flies or maggots.
This disease causes red or pinkness in the eye and swollen eyelids making you look like as if you haven’t slept and you’ve been crying.
This also causes sensitivity towards light or mild photophobia, blurry visions, pain in the eyes and sometimes feeling like there is something inside your eye.
Sometimes, it can also cause us to have uncontrolled tears.
How to prevent maggots
After learning how dangerous maggots can be, we should do what we can to avoid them and in case it is too late to prevent them, then we must get rid of them.
Here is how you can prevent and get rid of maggots (including flies). First, let’s begin with what attracts them so you can avoid attract them.
What attracts maggots and flies
Flies bring in maggots through eggs, so, to prevent maggots, you must prevent flies.
The following on this list are what attracts flies, therefore, you should avoid these things if you want to avoid maggots and flies.
- Garbage
- Flies usually find food inside garbage bins. They consume food such as fermented fruits, spoiled meat, overripe fruits and vegetables. This is why we must keep the garbage lid closed and shut off properly in order to avoid making flies swarm over the bin.
- Feces
- Flies, almost all kinds of them, consume feces from nearly any kind of animal. This is also the reason why they carry so many bacteria and develop various transmittable diseases.
- Plants
- Certain plants such as mint, sunflowers and daises attract flies for consumption purposes. Flies may also drink from plants and lay their eggs on plants. Sometimes, they just simply land on plants to rest for a while.
- Carcasses
- Consuming carcasses is another way for these flies to fill their stomachs and they also lay their eggs on carcasses so that once the egg hatches, the larvae will have something to feed on the moment they are born.
- Liquid substances
- Spilled soda and juices from fruits can be very inviting for these flies. Not only are they able to hydrate themselves through these consumable liquids, they are also satisfied by the sweet flavor it contains.
- Unattended food
- It is true that they still come near unattended food but without human intervention, they can feast on the food without worry of getting caught by human traps and other animals too. They are opportunistic and therefore, they will take what they can.
- Warm temperatures
- Like other animals and insects, flies are also quite weak against the cold. They thrive better under warm temperatures and thus will seek places that are warm to keep their bodies functioning under normal circumstances.
In the winter, they suspend the activities in their bodies in a way that allows them to survive but some of them usually lay their eggs on winter so the larvae can hatch by spring.
- Like other animals and insects, flies are also quite weak against the cold. They thrive better under warm temperatures and thus will seek places that are warm to keep their bodies functioning under normal circumstances.
- Light sources
- Flies have a natural attraction towards light because of positive phototaxis, the locomotive movement that occurs when a living being moves closer or further away from a light source. This is because most whole organisms benefit from receiving light through photosynthesis.
- Other flies or insects
- The presence of your own kind is a good sign to take that you are welcome at that place. When one fly sees another or even a similar insect, it will make it seem as if they are safe around that area.
Some will also intentionally seek companionship from other flies in order to breed.
- The presence of your own kind is a good sign to take that you are welcome at that place. When one fly sees another or even a similar insect, it will make it seem as if they are safe around that area.
- Unkempt rooms
- An unkempt room is more likely to have unattended food, unnoticed carcasses or feces of small animals that could have been lurking around the room unknowingly and can be a safe resting place for the flies including their eggs if they are about to lay their eggs.
How to get rid of maggots and flies
Maggots are way easier to get rid of than flies because they do not have wings or legs for mobility. Here’s how to get rid of them.
- Spray maggot repellents
- The most effective way to get rid of maggots including flies and the eggs in the area where they hatched is spraying an insect repellent.
- There are a lot of fly or maggot insecticides that can be purchased from any local store so if you see one, you should immediately buy yourself an insect repellent to get rid of them. It works quickly and all it takes is a few spray and you’re done!
- You just have to make sure that you will also clean the area afterwards to make sure there are no other eggs and keep your garbage bins closed so that no other flies can come back around to lay their eggs on it once again which will cause more maggots and flies.
- Boiling water
- According to research, maggots don’t really drown but spilling boiling water on them can hurt them. So, if you want to get rid of them immediately without having to go to the store to buy repellents, you can try to use boiling water first.
Just make sure that it is really boiling so it will be effective and clean out the area afterwards as it can potentially just make the maggots hide somewhere or go deeper into the area where you can’t see it. Secure the area and make sure it is clean.
- According to research, maggots don’t really drown but spilling boiling water on them can hurt them. So, if you want to get rid of them immediately without having to go to the store to buy repellents, you can try to use boiling water first.
- Sprinkling salt
- Some people claim that sprinkling a good amount of salt on maggots worked for them.
However, there are different kinds of maggots out there which means it may or may not work but it’s definitely worth the try, isn’t it? We need to get rid of those maggots! You can try to drop a few and see the reaction.
If it works on one of the maggots, then you can assume that it might work for the others as well. If it’s not enough, then you can try the boiling water too. You have many options and you should use them as much as you can.
- Some people claim that sprinkling a good amount of salt on maggots worked for them.
- Raise a pet
- Another way you can get rid of those maggots is actually raising an animal that naturally preys on insects like flies and maggots. If you are a fan of amphibian or reptile pets, it’s your time to take advantage of that. Pets like frogs, chameleons, iguanas, lizards and geckos can clear those maggots for you.
Some type of birds also eats maggots and spiders on the other hand also eat and catch those kinds of insects.
One more exotic option for you is the Venus flytrap plant. Although it is a plant, some people like to refer to it as a “pet”. You can feed those maggots to your Venus flytrap plant and they can also catch some of the flies hanging around so the number of eggs turning into maggots will also be lessened.
- Another way you can get rid of those maggots is actually raising an animal that naturally preys on insects like flies and maggots. If you are a fan of amphibian or reptile pets, it’s your time to take advantage of that. Pets like frogs, chameleons, iguanas, lizards and geckos can clear those maggots for you.
- Use force
- Worst comes worst, sometimes we must just use force because we don’t really have a repellent available all of the time or have the energy to boil water and see if the salt method works.
You can try to burn the maggots off or crushing them with a solid object… but we want to avoid being so violent as much as possible… so just buy yourself a repellent!
- Worst comes worst, sometimes we must just use force because we don’t really have a repellent available all of the time or have the energy to boil water and see if the salt method works.
Related Questions
Do flies come from maggots?
Yes, flies starts out as maggots when they are young. Flies lay eggs that turn into maggots which will eventually grow into adult flies.
Related Topic: “Do Flies Come From Maggots?”
What do maggots eat?
Maggots eat waste, overripe fruit and vegetables, meat, other leftover food, fermented substances, decaying carcasses and sometimes plants too. For extreme cases, they will consume tissues of living human beings as well when an infestation is taking place.