Calabar swellings (medical condition)

A parasitic worm (Loa Loa) which is transmitted through a bit by the horsefly, deer fly or the Mango fly. The skin and eyes are usually affected. The worm larvae enter the blood stream through a bite by an infected fly. The adult worms move through the skin, eyes or other organs often causing a localized inflammation. Central Africa is the main area affected. Symptoms may take up to one and a half decades to occur and serious complications can occur depending on where the adult worm travels to within the body. See also Loiasis