Bombyx mori Chinese medicine, silkworm is the source of the "stiff silkworm", which is made from dried fourth- or fifth-instar larvae which have died of "white muscardine disease", the "Beauveria bassiana" fungal infection mentioned above. It is believed to dispel flatulence, dissolve phlegm, and relieve spasms. Bombyx mori The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth, Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely
Visceral larva migrans Visceral larva migrans Visceral larva migrans (VLM) is a condition in humans caused by the migratory larvae of certain nematodes, humans being a dead-end host, and was first reported in 1952. Nematodes causing such zoonotic infections are "Baylisascaris procyonis", "Toxocara canis", "Toxocara cati", and "Ascaris suum". These nematodes can infect but not mature in humans and after migrating through the intestinal wall, travel with the blood stream to various organs where they cause inflammation and damage. Affected organs can include the liver, heart (causing myocarditis) and the CNS (causing dysfunction, seizures, and coma). A special variant is ocular larva migrans