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Medical Term:


Pronunciation: vol-far'te-o'sis

Definition: Infection of animals and humans with larvae of flies of the genus Wohlfahrtia. Important species include Wohlfahrtiosis magnifica, a widely distributed obligatory fleshfly the tissue-destroying maggots of which invade wounds or head cavities of domestic animals and humans; Wohlfahrtiosis nuba, a facultative fleshfly of Old World distribution, also found in head wounds or head cavities but not in dermal sores; and Wohlfahrtiosis vigil, which produces cutaneous myiasis in human infants in the northern U.S. and southern Canada by larvae that penetrate the skin and cause infected, boillike, or furuncular lesions; mink and fox pups in fur farms, and probably rabbits and rodents are attacked by this species.

See Also: Wohlfahrtia
