A scary and unusual skin outbreak has left villagers living in fear of being "eaten alive by worms".
When Pulane Leburu started scratching one of her breasts in December last year, it was the beginning of what would later become a nightmare in the area.
She couldn't stop scratching the bottom part of her right breast. She washed it twice, but it worsened with each application of water.
Leburu, 48, of Disaneng village, about 40km outside Mafikeng in North West, went to the clinic the following day.
"A yellowish sore had developed and it was itching and paining. I had to go to the clinic when I felt a lump inside.
"Nurses thought it was something to do with breast cancer. But they were baffled because it was developing on the outer part of the breast," she said.
At the clinic, a nurse felt a lump inside the breast and, while squeezing it, asked Leburu whether she was feeling any pain. Then the sore burst open and a live worm emerged.
Leburu's was one of the earliest cases of an outbreak of skin-worm sores in the Ratlou sub-district, outside Mafikeng.
At least 120 people, including babies, have reported to clinics in the area with the condition.
By last month the outbreak had spread to Masamane, Makgobistad, Mabule, Makgori, Tshidilamolomo and other villages, all situated along the Botswana border.
The provincial health department last week confirmed that the condition was known as cutaneous myiasis.
Department spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane described cutaneous myiasis as a skin condition caused by Cordylobia Anthropophaga (tumbu fly, mango fly, putsi fly).
It originates from eggs laid by a female fly on clothes or soil contaminated with urine or faeces. The larvae emerging from the egg would then penetrate the skin painlessly once the clothes are worn.
The worm will then grow inside a person's body, just under the skin, over a number of days. Once large enough, a sore will develop on the outside of the body because the worm will now be trying to breathe.
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