This made me think of you guys. Here's a case study:

A 55-year-old man presented with intermittent, crampy pain in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. The pain had started two days after his return from a two-week trip to Hungary. He reported no change in bowel movements and no nausea, vomiting, perianal itching, hematochezia, fever, or other systemic symptoms. The physical examination was remarkable only for mild tenderness on deep palpation in the right lower quadrant. The results of routine laboratory testing, including a complete blood count and a metabolic panel with liver-function tests, were normal. A plain radiograph of the abdomen was normal. A colonoscopy was ordered and revealed...well, it's much better if you watch the video

It opens in a new window, so disable your pop-up blocker. I promise it is worth it.

Source: New England Journal Medicine: Volume 354:e12 March 30, 2006 Number 13.

Also, just to add to the importance and relevance of parasites to the world in general, all of the following are diseases caused by parasites:

Malaria
Leishmaniasis
Chagas Disease
Sleeping sickness
Meningitis

Granted, most are not important in the US, but some are present in Mexico, and malaria is a huge cause of disease worldwide. Amoebic meningitis is rare, but has shown up in the States: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites ... htm#common

It's not just worms and bedbugs.

edited: not in New Mexico, but Old Mexico. Sorry.

Did I see holes in the patients tissue, as in these pin worms are burrowing/eating their way in?
What precisely do these things feed on? Human excrement in the lower GI, or do they also eat flesh?




Pardon me.....I have to go find a potent vermifuge right now

I am not aware of pinworms penetrating through the mucosa, but they can move around to other areas (where they apparently die). It didn't look like there were any perforations in the intestine, but again, I am no pathologist/endoscopist.

As to what they eat, it's not flesh, otherwise it would be a much more serious disease. Nothing I have read seems concerned with what they eat, everything talks about what kills them. Maybe there is a zoology major out there that can school us. I am worthless with multi-cellular organisms....too complicated.

Re: bed nasties, one way to treat bedding (if it is hot enough outside) is to put everything in black trash bags and let them bake in the sun for several hours.


This is hearsay though, seems logical but don't know if it actually works.

Sounds plausible. I bet if you put it in direct sunlight it could work also. Back in the day, my grandmother hung the clothe diapers to dry in the sun, because it killed the bacteria that may not have washed out in the laundry.

One way to disinfect (sterilize if you do it long enough) water is to place it in clear plastic jugs in the sun. If I remember correctly it takes about 6-8hrs of direct sunlight. This will kill viruses, bacteria, and protozoan cysts (not sure about bacterial cysts). It is the UV radiation, not the heat, that does it in this case. You need to make sure the water is clear (filter through sand/bandana/sock/coffee filter) and don't use glass bottles (it can filter out some of the UV rays).

UV light cabinets are used in labs to disinfect goggles and some instruments. I think there are some portable versions out there for sterilizing surfaces/utensils in foreign countries. Might be plausible for PAW sterilizing also.

Just curious...how would we treat these diseases without proper anti-biotics?


Correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the forms of Leishmaniasis is almost %100 percent fatal without treatment...it's not something your just going to shake off.

You don't. Often you die with treatment anyway. Chagas, Sleeping Sickness, especially amoebic meningitis=dead. Depressing, huh? It's because they are so close to our own biology, stuff that poisons them poisons us too.

The key to these illnesses is prevention. That could probably be said of all parasitic diseases. Mosquito nets, bug control, proper hygiene, cook your foods, don't eat cat feces, etc.


Yup, visceral Leishmaniasis. A clue for that one is a dark pigmented skin and an enlarged spleen, which you could feel under the left ribcage. The skin form is usually self-limiting, but you could try putting antimony on it. Apparently that is element 51 and was used by the Egyptians for black eye paint. It would probably not work, but hell, you don't have antibiotics... With all forms of Leishmaniasis you are concerned about secondary infection, so you could just try and prevent that, although I have no idea what that would entail or if it would just be a lost cause (guessing it is a lost cause).

I have always wondered if you got malaria, could you drink a lot of tonic water? Like a ridiculous amount? It has quinine in it, and as long as you didn't have Plasmodium falciparum (which is resistant to quinine*) I feel like it is plausible. I don't know about dosages/relative concentrations though.

*apparently this is not exactly true. Doing some quick searches I have found differing info. Theory still holds though, as there are other strains of malaria.

Actually, to my understanding this is why gin and tonics came into existence....sort of.
I believe the tonic water was consumed as a prophylaxis, not a cure, and the gin added to help with the bitter taste.




When I'm in SE Asia I always justify my periodic overindulgence of gin and tonics as my attempt to prevent malaria, "It's the quinine you know!", and then point out that I've never contracted the disease as proof of it's effectiveness.


Usually good for a round on the house if I make an entertaining show explaining it

I spent some time overseas during an out break. Didn't catch it but the saw bones advised me to have a steady amount of tonic water just to make sure i am not carrying it. True or not I love tonic water tasty as, so its as good a reason as any to have a couple of bottles around the house.