Everything about parasites!

[Lambada]

Local doctors, local hospital. Symptoms were high fever, paralysis, headache and swelling of limbs. Those who died were young children 8 and 9. It was diagnosed after 2 weeks as Bilharzia - but of course they could be wrong.

Usually it is fatal only if the eggs get to the human brain or spinal cord (& it is that which causes paralysis) - annual global fatalities are estimated at 20,000. So the diagnosis of these 2 children may not have been wrong, they just might have been 2 of those rare cases where the eggs had migrated to the brain/spinal cord. Normally the eggs go to the liver, intestine or bladder.

Have to say, years ago when I got it, I wasn't getting much joy with a diagnosis which I found believeable here (probably things have improved by now) so I went to UK where it was diagnosed although it took a while to remove the other possible diagnoses from the equation. I went to a tropical disease specialist in UK - most GPs there don't know too much about schisto because they don't encounter it too often. Once diagnosed you take medication for 3 days and you're good to go. However the antibody will show up in blood tests for years afterwards (12 years in my case). I'd urge anyone who is showing symptoms to seek medical advice & testing - the longer you leave it, the more risks you are taking.

I'll link to some informative websites:
SCI - Health Consequences of Schistomosiasis

Division of Parasitic Diseases - Schistosomiasis Fact Sheet

WHO | Epidemiological situation

I was never able to determine whether my schisto which presented symptoms here in DR was in fact contracted here or had been contracted years before during my many travels in Africa but had been asymptomatic until I moved here. I was certainly at risk in Africa, travelling and living a local lifestyle and not being a tourist.

 

[dv8]

isn't that cool how you get medicine prescribed BEFORE you are tested for anything? i think i had more antibiotics in my one year in DR than in all my years so far (but i was not prone to diseases before).

 

[Hillbilly]

Interesting

Usually it is fatal only if the eggs get to the human brain or spinal cord (& it is that which causes paralysis) - annual global fatalities are estimated at 20,000. So the diagnosis of these 2 children may not have been wrong, they just might have been 2 of those rare cases where the eggs had migrated to the brain/spinal cord. Normally the eggs go to the liver, intestine or bladder.

Have to say, years ago when I got it, I wasn't getting much joy with a diagnosis which I found believeable here (probably things have improved by now) so I went to UK where it was diagnosed although it took a while to remove the other possible diagnoses from the equation. I went to a tropical disease specialist in UK - most GPs there don't know too much about schisto because they don't encounter it too often. Once diagnosed you take medication for 3 days and you're good to go. However the antibody will show up in blood tests for years afterwards (12 years in my case). I'd urge anyone who is showing symptoms to seek medical advice & testing - the longer you leave it, the more risks you are taking.

I'll link to some informative websites:
SCI - Health Consequences of Schistomosiasis

Division of Parasitic Diseases - Schistosomiasis Fact Sheet

WHO | Epidemiological situation

I was never able to determine whether my schisto which presented symptoms here in DR was in fact contracted here or had been contracted years before during my many travels in Africa but had been asymptomatic until I moved here. I was certainly at risk in Africa, traveling and living a local lifestyle and not being a tourist.

When I first read your post that said that you had suffered from "bilarzia(sp?)" or schisto..., I thought to myself, ""How on earth did she get that?"

When we were in Peace Corps training over in Puerto Rico, oh so many years ago, we were made aware of bilarzia/schistosomiasis and how it is propagated.

These are liver flukes, parasites that penetrate the skin and work their way to the liver where they grow and grow and grow!! IT usually causes a huge swelling of the liver. The eggs of the parasite pass into the bowel tract and are deposited in the feces. Since many undeveloped or underdeveloped countries have large rural populations that lack sanitary facilities even so basic as latrines, people do their "business" anywhere. Rain runoff eventually takes the eggs to water where a certain type of freshwater snail eats the eggs and becomes the vector for the liver flukes. The snails expel the parasites which stay on the surface of still or stagnant water, not running or rough water.
We were also informed that the cure for bilarzia was very difficult, nearly impossible. I think (really, I do sometimes!) that barium was the treatment at that time...
To control bilarzia we introduced other snails that were immune to the parasite and that ate five times the food that the host snails did, robbing them of their food supply and killing them off.
In the DR, bilarzia is known to exist in the east and in any area with sugarcane. Basically places where sugar cane workers take their daily dump.

I have to say that I did not know that in this day and age people died form it in the DR.

I liked Palau (post #40) and his/her remarks. THAT is why you wear SOMETHING on your feet!!!!!! We have all the nasty parasites that can enter your system via the feet....

FELTREX 6 works.....

HB

 

[Rocky]

Weird diseases.

It's amazing the how many weird diseases there are out there.
I had bats nesting in a wall in the old Rocky's.
I cut through the wall, got rid of them, cleaned up the guana, and landed up in a hospital in Santigao for a week with Histoplasmosis.

 

[Lambada]

When I first read your post that said that you had suffered from "bilarzia(sp?)" or schisto..., I thought to myself, ""How on earth did she get that?" HB

More 'how in water did she get that?' IF it was contracted here in DR it was because I used to go swimming in a watering hole with the tourists when I was a tour guide on horse riding tour - these were sometimes stagnant if little rain had fallen. IF I brought an asymptomatic version with me, it would have been contracted 20+ years earlier in Africa. I'll never know for sure so keep an open mind.

 

[Matilda]

Having spoken to the doctor re these children and more who now have it, they have now decided it is filariasis linfatica, otherwise known as elephantiasis. Having checked that out on the internet, I didn't realise how prevalent it was here and worldwide, nor that it was spread by mosquitos. Anyone else know of cases of this?

Matilda

 

[Rocky]

I'd suggest prevention rather than treatment. As previously stated, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, and grapefruit seed extract taken daily, in the morning on an empty stomach, will do just that. Also, raw dairy (= not pasteurized; preferably goat or sheep to cow) either cultured or not, will also do wonders for your immune system. Furthermore, garlic (whether taken by chopping up small pieces or as an oil with olive oil) will keep things like mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks away from you.

100% pure good advice.

 

[tish]

I use tap water

I also use tap water with no problem.