The Centre for Health Protection has confirmed the year's fifth human myiasis case, involving a 91-year-old Tai Po woman.

The elderly home resident was found to have maggots in a wound on her right foot on April 22 and was sent to the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital for treatment. She was discharged April 25.

Hong Kong recorded 14 cases last year, 15 in 2006 and six in 2005.

Human myiasis is caused by parasitic maggots of flies which infest the superficial wounds and body orifices, such as the mouth, ear and nose, of debilitated people with larvae. The larvae feed on the host's dead or living tissue and can cause serious damage or even death.

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