Screwworms have been almost entirely in the United States but Karen Goode from San Antonio, Texas contracted them from Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen rice and beans she alleges. Screwworms can be fatal if left untreated. In Goode’s case the screwworms laid eggs in the lining of her small intestine and after they hatched, they began eating away from from the inside out.
From The Mail Online:
According to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Bexar County district court, the flesh-eating insects entered her digestive tract and laid eggs in the lining of her small intestine.
When the eggs hatched, they ‘infested Plaintiff’s body and began to eat Plaintiff alive from the inside-out.’
New World screwworms are known to infest livestock and warm-blooded animals including humans, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Goode said she was ‘ravaged by E.coli and Helicobacter Pylori bacteria infection, infestation of flesh eating screwworms into her body, injury to her neck, digestive track, shoulders and arm’ according to the complaint.
Goode’s lawyer, Patrick J. Stolmeier said the woman became so ill she could not work and ultimately lost her business, house, and vehicles.
The lawsuit was filed on February 7, but Stolmeier did not specify the date of the incident or if it was reported to the local health department.
