Navel neglect

NAKHON NAYOK: The recent spate of incidents involving insects laying their eggs in human orifices took a new and disturbing turn on May 8, when the mother of a newborn found 10 maggots living inside the bellybutton of her two-day-old son. Mother-to-be Chananthida Kusonsarng, 25, was admitted to Nakhon Nayok Hospital on May 3 when her waters broke earlier than expected. Three days later she gave birth to a son, Sumate, by Cesarean section. As the infant was born well before term and came into the world weighing less than 2.2 kilograms, doctors at the government medical facility decided to keep the child in the hospital’s incubator until he grew stronger. Two days later, nurses at the hospital reunited mother and child and were giving K. Chananthida basic hygiene and care tips for the baby. During the session, the mother was appalled to find 10 plump, white maggots, each four to five millimeters in length, squirming about in the baby’s navel. Staff at the hospital immediately went into “it wasn’t us” mode, saying the maggots probably found their way into the baby from a towel provided by relatives – or perhaps by “uncleanliness” on the part of the mother. A distraught K. Chananthida vehemently denied this, arguing that the baby had been in the hospital’s care – not hers – from the moment he was born. She quickly transferred the child to Mittraphap Hospital in neighboring Saraburi Province, where little Sumate was successfully treated for omphalitis and diarrhea, and is now reported as healthy, strong and maggot-free.