Hoax Message About Breast Infestation.

A Viral image purport to document the medical case of a female anthropologist named Susan McKinley who failed to seek treatment for a rash and wound up with an infestation of larvae in her breast is a hoax.

Link to the Hoax message:  http://jawbreaker88.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/wash-before-wearing/


ANALYSIS: This forwarded message comprises two distinct components:

    1.The text, which appears to have been fabricated.
    2.The still image, which appears to have been fabricated.
   
The still image first turned up on the Internet, uncaptioned, in June 2003. As David Mikkelson of Snopes.com has noted, it was evidently created by combining elements of two separate images, one of a female breast and the other of a lotus seed pod.

The cautionary tale about "anthropologist Susan McKinley" and the larvae infestation she supposedly experienced was attached to the image by person(s) unknown in August 2003.


The video and picture to support the claim of this false mail was downloaded from the website of a medical journal and attached to the already-circulating email in late 2005. It originally accompanied a journal article entitled "Furuncular Myiasis of the Breast Caused by the Larvae of the Tumbu Fly (Cordylobia Anthropophaga)." The case, which occurred in Nigeria, not South America, is described as follows:

    "We report a 70-year-old woman who presented with a week history of itchy multiple discharging sinuses of the right breast. The sinuses contained wriggling larvae of C. anthropophaga. Fourteen larvae were extracted from the breast and the sinuses healed quite well after the extraction."

Please note that although the particulars of the Susan McKinley email remain unsubstantiated, its anonymous author does know a thing or two about circumstances promoting furuncular myiasis of the breast.
"Please make sure you iron your undergarments before you wear them and make sure that your clothes are ironed when they are dry and not damp," the email warns. Compare that to the journal article's explanation of how the 70-year-old patient in Nigeria became exposed: "She usually spreads her washed dresses on a line near the bush and does not iron them before wearing them." 

You can also view these links below:
www.snopes.com/photos/medical/breastrash.asp

 http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471%2D2482/4/5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrichor/86300181/

Be wise, don't help spread a hoax.

Amb Caleb.