Have/Could a wasps be parasitical on humans?

Question

Some species of wasps lay their eggs inside otehr animals (small ones to the best of my knowledge) and the eggs then hatch and devour the host... Ouchy... My question is if this has ever, or could happen to a human?

Cut the "a" from the title...

Answer 1

Hymenopterans don't make good vertebrate parasites. Having evolved for survival in sheltered environments their larvae lack a chitinous coating over their abdomens. That in turn means that they provoke a severe immune repsonse from the vertebrate immune system and are easy for the system to destroy once they are detected.

That same feature makes them great insect parasites however since they are able to secrete hormones that disable the host immune system.

There are insects that lay their eggs in humans and eat us alive, but they are all dipterans, ie flies. Various bot flies, screworms and several other groups of flies deposit their eggs on or under the skin and the maggots consume the person alive when they hatrch. The largets of these is a South American speces whose maggot is about the size of a human thumb when it finally burrows out of the skin and falls to the ground to pupate, leaving a nasty hole behind.

Flies are bale to do this because they evolved to deal with rather exposed hostile environments such as rotting carrion. Their larvae are completely coated with a thick chitin coating so they provoke a minimal immune reposnse form the vertebrate immune system, and the same coating prevents them being attacked effectovely if they are detected.

Answer 2

Sure this could happen. I studied Forensic Science and if a person was laying on the ground in warm weather, this would be a possibility. The nasal passages, mouth and ears would be most likely opportune places.