BreezyD Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Remind me to wash with bottled water on my next approach ... Leechy Goodness Quote
ScottP Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 The urinophilic candiru catfish of the Amazon can supposedly swim up a persons(male or female)urethra where it gets stuck and dies. Quote
Winter Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Haha! On the Annapurna Circuit, we crossed a river and got to the other side. The leaches were real bad that day, and we had this little piece of cheese cloth tied in a knot with some salt inside to get the little fuckers off. So we get to the other side, and my friend pulls his hand out of his pants and has blood all over it. His balls were getting sucked dry! He was screaming for the cheese cloth, jumping up and down, but my hands were too cold and I was laughing too hard to get it untied. Holy shit, what a great scene. Quote
ScottP Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 And then there are these microscopic little beauties (demodex folliculorum ) They burrow themselves into the follicles of your eyelashes. Quote
willstrickland Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Had a coworker in Utah who picked up some kind of fly worm parasite in Belize. You could literally see it squirm under the skin in his calf. Doc told him to duct tape a piece of raw steak over the entry and the thing would burrow out into the steak. It worked, but was pretty damn creepy to see. Apparently it's a pretty common ailment, but I can't remember the name of the parasite. Quote
selkirk Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 eeeewwwwwww !!!!! I thought this was going to be a discussion about chicks Quote
alpinespider Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Dracunculiasis http://www.answers.com/topic/dracunculiasis Try this one on for size. Learned about this in college in a parasitology class. The treatment involves wrapping the worm around a stick and pulling it out of your leg or whereever a few centimeters a day. 2 to 3 feet long and looks like spaghetti. Ummmm.....Spaghetti!! Quote
catbirdseat Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 What a coincidence! I am donating blood to the Red Cross this afternoon. O-positive makes me in demand. Quote
glacier Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Tony’s got a botfly in his forehead Jenny’s got a guinea worm in her shoe Dave’s got leeches, Mike’s got flu, Everybody’s got a parasite, I’ve got you... Quote
alpinespider Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Glacier...LOL That is a great poem...That one is going to be posted in my mircobiology lab!!! Quote
chelle Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Dracunculiasis http://www.answers.com/topic/dracunculiasis Try this one on for size. Learned about this in college in a parasitology class. The treatment involves wrapping the worm around a stick and pulling it out of your leg or whereever a few centimeters a day. 2 to 3 feet long and looks like spaghetti. Ummmm.....Spaghetti!! In college my zoology instructor described this as one of the hazards of her summer field study trip to Belize. Two people (a student and another instructor) had been infested the previous summer. I was glad I had a great summer job and was not tempted by the class. Quote
ScottP Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Dracunculiasis http://www.answers.com/topic/dracunculiasis Try this one on for size. Learned about this in college in a parasitology class. The treatment involves wrapping the worm around a stick and pulling it out of your leg or whereever a few centimeters a day. 2 to 3 feet long and looks like spaghetti. Ummmm.....Spaghetti!! This guy's keeping one for a pet! Quote
Squid Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 Bot Fly Horror Stories... http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly.html While viewing the very active volcano Arenal in the small town of La Fortuna in Costa Rica a fellow named Mark was bitten by a mosquito. This happened on November 24th, 2000 at night in the viewing area of Los Lagos. The following was written by his wife.... Upon returning home from Costa Rica Mark started experience a strange pain in his scrotum. He finally mentioned it to me (his wife) & we talked about what it could be. Spider bite? Infected mosquito bite? Then I remember reading something in the guide book from our 1st (honeymoon) trip about a weird bug in Costa Rica. The guide book Explore Costa Rica by Harry S. Pariser said.... "Botfly (Dermatobia hominis), whose larvae mature inside flesh. An egg-laden female botfly captures a night-flying female mosquito and glues her eggs on to it. When the mosquito is released and bites a victim, the host's body heat triggers an egg to hatch. It falls off and burrows in. The larva secures itself with two anal hooks, secreting an antibiotic into its burrow, which staves off competing bacteria and fungi. Its spiracle pokes out of the tiny hole, and a small mound forms which will grow to the size of a goose egg before the mature larva falls out. Should you be unfortunate enough to fall prey to a larva - an extremely unlikely occurrence for the average visitor - you have three cures available. One is to use the acrid white sap of the matatorsalo (bot killer), which kills the larva but leaves its corpse intact. Another is to apply a piece of soft, raw meat to the top of the airhole. As the maggot must breath, it burrows upward into the meat. A third is to apply a generous helping of Elmer's glue or cement to the hole. Coating the skin surface with vaseline also will force the lil buggers out. Cover this with a circular patch of adhesive tape; seal this tape with a final application of glue. Squeeze out the dead larva the next morning. The only other alternative is to leave it to grow to maturity, giving you an opportunity to experience the transmogrification of part of yourself into another creature. It only hurts when the maggot squirms and if you swim, presumably because you are cutting off its air supply. Don't try to pull it out because it will burst. Part of its body will remain inside and cause an infection." Thank you for adding that bit to your guide book Harry. (If we had not read that I am not sure what would have happened to Mark). Harry S. Pariser is the author of Explore Costa Rica & Explore Belize I had even highlighted this information & remembered telling Mark" listen to this". Well since we are not the average visitor I knew this had to be what was bothering Mark. We tried the raw meat but guess the botfly didn't like the cut of meat Mark used as it didn't work. The pain was not like the book described, Mark was getting bitten at random times. Mostly when he tried to sleep & different times at work. Since he is a great bearer of pain he decided to call UTMB to see if anyone there wanted to do a case study on this rare occurrence. He was told to email the "WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases". He did so giving full detail as to what happened, meanwhile I made him a Drs appointment with our general Doc. This Doctor decided that Mark must have lice & gave him lice medicine. Meanwhile the botfly's got bigger & the biting worse. Customers even noticed it & said something to me. How do you explain? Mind you all this was going on during the Xmas season & the computer store was busier than ever. We were working on a Sunday (Dec. 17th, 2000) afternoon trying to get caught up when Mark went down on his knees in pain. It scared Cole & I so bad that I knew we had to get rid of these things somehow. I talked Mark into going to the emergency room where upon explaining to the attendant what was going on a young guy sitting beside her said "I have heard of botfly's before"! We both asked him what he knew & where he had heard about botflys from. He told us that he heard about them on the Discovery Channel but didn't know much. Wish he had been a doctor! Going to the emergency room I watched at the door as Mark laid on the examining table totally depressed. One lady Doc picked up Marks chart & said "I'm not touching that!" Hours later a Doc arrives & we tell him the story. He asked us "What other DR's are you seeing & are you on any kind of medication"? He then tells us he has to call in a urologist. Meanwhile he goes to a computer & types in "botfly" I sneak up behind him & say......there is a lot more information on the net if you want me to show you where it is at! He turned to me in surprise & say's "no, the urologist is on his way from home". Enters Dr. Michael Rashid, MD Resident of Urology. He believes us but is skeptical. We sets up an appointment for the following Tue. AM. Meanwhile Mark is still experiencing terrible pain till the day of the appointment Dec 19th, 2000. Dr. Gabriel Rodriguez, MD & Assistant Professor of Urology examines Mark & asked him to sign a consent form for photos. Off we go to the operating room where normally vasectomies are performed. I was allowed to be with Mark during the operation. After he was prepped (shaved & cleaned) they took photos of the sores. I didn't realize there were two spots. Dr. Rodriguez starts cutting, then tells Mark he has to go deeper into the tissue. Mark said he could see the surprised look on the Doc's face when he exclaims "It's alive"! He tells the attending nurse to get a container & drops the botfly larva into it. The nurse is checking it out when Mark tells him "I read on the internet that those things can jump 6 feet". He slams the lid on the container & sets it down! I pick it up & take it over to Mark. We watch this thing squirming as they close up the area it came out of & get ready for botfly #2! This one is also alive & all we can think about is the movie Alien. This is a photo of the actual botfly larva removed from Mark. Nasty looking critter isn't it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a close up of the spines. This is a photo of it's mouth. The photos were taken by Stephen Higgs, Ph.D. with the Department of Pathology at UTMB. When Mark came back to the office (yes, he came straight to work) after the surgery he had a email from the WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases. It said "his email was read by a professor experienced in this area at UTMB & he suggested Mark visit any competent dermatologist for appropriate evaluation and management. In addition, from your (Mark's) email there is no indication that research is required or that the problem is necessarily botfly-related." Boy was Mark mad. He emailed them back letting them know what he had just been through & ended it with........."The only Botfly larva survivor you will ever know!" One day Mark commented on how uncomfortable the stitches were. I told him "well now you have a little knowledge of what child birth is like". His reply was "Yes, but I had twins!" Mark has healed & is now doing fine Quote
selkirk Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 How could you have neglected to post the poem Squiddy!!! The Mark Johnstone Version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" "Twas the week before Christmas, and boy was it neat. We had been on vacation, and my wife was in heat. The doors were all bolted, the phone off the hook, It was time for some nooky, by hook or by crook. Momma in her teddy and I in the nude, Had just hit the bedroom and reached for the lube. When out from my privates there arose such a cry, That I lost my boner and thought I would die. Up to the window I sprang like a very big flea, The pain was so bad it stung like a bee. I ran down the hall past the 'putter I'd built, And looked in a mirror, clean up to the hilt. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, But an airhole in my scrotum - I said to her....Dear. With two holes now seen, half out of my sock, It's time for a phone call, right now to a Doc. The first one I called, said I'd just lost my mind. So I paid him his worth ... it was only a dime. The next one I called said it was just a small mite Sure as I'm speaking, he was high as a kite All I had left was to lay there in pain A cry in the night with nothing to gain Then down the chimney came a big red guy St. Nick I told him, it must be a fly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old prick, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of my dick. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know I had more problems to dread Whoa Shithead he said - you are such a Putz, Stop whining right now or I'll cut off your nuts. A phone number he gave and a big bag of ice He said call this Doc and he will be nice He sprang up the chimney, to his team gave a whistle And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim boy "Don't bitch or don't pout" "Merry Christmas to all and be glad they are all out!" Quote
Geek_the_Greek Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 From Squid's link: I used to do a few extractions of Bot flys from the British military when they came out to the island from the jungle, they had all kinds of pretty gross things from being stuck in the Jungle day and night for weeks on end. Anyway to get the bot larvae out alive we used to take a Coke bottle and light a cigarette take a few puffs of the cig and blow the smoke into the bottle, once the bottle was full we would hold it over the breathing hole and wait for the larvae to come to the surface of the hole in order to get some fresh air, once it poked its head out we would get the squaddie up against the wall and 2 to 3 of us would put our thumbs around the perimeter of the hole and push as hard as we could. I tell you we had to push hard but eventually this big hairy maggot came out pretty disgusting. Once it was out we put it in a clear film canister for the Limey to take with him, disinfected the area and he went on his way. I only noticed a slight swelling and redness around the hole. " THIS BIG HAIRY MAGGOT CAME OUT " Oh man, that is fawking gross. Yet another reason not to join the army. Quote
fenderfour Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 What a coincidence! I am donating blood to the Red Cross this afternoon. O-positive makes me in demand. O positive makes you ordinary. Quote
Squid Posted April 8, 2005 Posted April 8, 2005 You know -- here -- in every village -- they have one or two people that are very good at squeezing them out. Not just for people -- but for dogs to -- which get a lot of these. They have to feel first -- to line up the grub properly -- then they squeeze in a special way -- a real "art" -- and the worm just pops out -- shooting ten feet or more -- like from a gun. From what I have observed -- It is like they are massaging the worm -- very gently -- then "pow" -- a sudden fast squeeze -- just the right pressure -- and at just the right time. Quote
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