Health Concerns
While the larvae of the cheese fly are killed by the digestive process, certain species of fly larvae (which belong to a completely different family) have adapted to pass through the mammalian digestive system alive when accidentally ingested (stomach acids do not usually kill them). This is referred to as an enteric or intestinal myiasis.
Some fruit fly larvae of the family Tephritidae are a cause of myiasis in livestock and possibly humans. The larvae can cause serious intestinal lesions as they attempt to bore through the intestinal walls. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, pain in the abdomen, and bloody diarrhea.
However, there have been no reports of myiasis in Sardinia or Italy following casu marzu ingestion.
Read more about this topic: Casu Marzu
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