Poss tmi warning - DH has worm in leg

[sphil]

Dh has just returned from the Gambia with what he thought was an insect bite on his leg. Over the last week it has got bigger and yesterday a small white worm popped out of it (where's the yuk emoticon when you need it?) Went to GP who admitted she didn't know what to do and has referred him to dermatologist at hospital on Friday.

Has anyone heard of this - googling only produces 'guinea worm disease' which causes severe pain, and he says it's just a bit uncomfortable. Dh wants to know what the treatment will be (altho I think he has an idea...) and whether he'll have to take antibiotics.

I am sure they come from undercooked pork {hmm] If you don't cook it properly then it doesn't kill the parasite........or do thy come from somewhere else?

Cornsilk do a google and tell us. I will puke over computer if I do a google on it...

I think dh would think I'd gone mad if he looked at the history and saw tapeworms! Mind you I would be tempted to scoff one if it really meant I could eat anything and be thin.

I may have to read later, now off to cook my tea, a nice bit of rump steak!!.......can you get worms from steak?? {time to be a veggie I think}

you can delete history............... many a thing I've looked up and not wanted DP to find out!...........

I would give anything to be really thin...but not a tapeworm...oh God no

here

WTF!!!! Feckin hell, looks like a monster, am assuming it is very small, will keep my muffin top thanks!! Should have gone to cook tea!

There was a programme a while ago, where a boffin type ate a tapeworm. It was a scientific thing but for the life of me I can remember what. I think to get them out you can put food near your bum hole and then when they put their head out of said hole you grab them.

Isn't it tapeworms that can grow inside you to be horrendously long, sort of -go-round-the-circumference-of-the-world type long?

oh i missed all the excitement.

I have had many a botfly larva in my arms, legs, back, even in my scalp.

Took them all out myself with the exception of the one in my scalp.

They keep their wound clean. The only time they get infected if they die or you kill them in their home and you fail to remove all the body parts.

I thought the mouth was the bit that hooked on and held it in place. The bit poking out of a bum must surely be it's tail???

Or is it two headed?? (horror film stuff)

Cornsilk cannot do that link, but how do you catch them? Was that info in there?

I have also heard that if you put a glass of warm milk in front of your mouth, tapeworm will come up that way as well.

I swear I can feel all sorts of stuff crawling all over me atm

Why am I addicted to this thread? I am terrified of worms, it is like some fatal fascination that keeps pulling me in.

Such is my fear, I had to leave a room when a colleague was talking about her wormery, and was actually physically sick when I
saw huge worm once...

But I keep coming back for more.....

I saw that programme cocolepew; the boffin ate the worms to prove his theory that the rise in allergies is coincident with the eradication of gutowrms. He was so badly affected by hayfever he could hardly go outside on days of high pollen count. Since being infested with gutworms he was fine and they had him in a hothouse full of flowers to illustrate.

they also said that since the vaccination programmes in third world countries which has eradicated much of the gutworm problem the number of cases of hayfever, asthma and allergies are rising every year. His research was trying to isolate the enzyme that the worms produce so it could be used as a vaccination against common allergies! Until it's available in tablet form, I'll keep my asthma and coeliac disease thank you very much!

kiskidee.....eeeeeeeeewwwwww. I think I would be horrified, but having had lots of ticks I'm not too bothered by them. I suppose it's a case of getting used to it!

Hmm lets see now, hayfever or worm in stomach, now that's a tough one, Nope think I stick with the hayfever thanks!

oh, yes, i have had loads of ticks too.

Where did you obtain these delightful creatures?

Spending a lot of time in the rainforests of Central America.

lol running around with no shoes on - not a good idea in C.A

Freaks me out anything living on my body! I am gonna make damn sure I never go anywhere like jungles or places where I can get these 'orrible' little bugs.

oh, i wore shoes, jenny. the little critters just find their way in other ways. with botfly i think that the fly lays its egg on a mosquito and the mosquito then leaves it on your skin. the warmth of your skin makes the egg hatch and the little mite then burrows itself in.

they live head down and breath out of their bottoms. sometimes you can see the little spiracle, breathing tube, perking out from under your skin like a little snorkle.

usually that it the time when you say, yup, get the little bugger out.

OMG!

Kiskedee you are obviously a botfly veteran. DH feels like a mere novice in comparison...

snorkle

It's nice having a pet, though, isn't it?

And if your body is the host, you save money by not having to buy a hutch.