Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Back to Medicine


Some commentors have urged us to steer clear of political topics and 'stick to medicine' so here goes.

Saw a discovery channel show the other night on parasitic infections contracted in the jungles of South America and one particular infection caught my eye. The Botfly.

Botflys reproduce when either the flies themselves or mosquitoes carrying Botfly eggs bite hosts and deposit botfly larvae under the skin. These then grow under the skin of their hosts and, after a process not unlike a caterpillar turning into a butterfly (though certainly not as aesthetically pleasing), the larvae grow into flies and burrow out of the skin and fly away. Needless to say, for those with weak stomachs this is terrifying and appears like something from the pits of hell.

The larvae can be killed within the skin, and for the sake of 'sticking to medicine' let's assume a human host. A gob of Vaseline over the infected site will kill the larva but it then has to be removed. A number 11 blade and a strong stomach comes in handy at this point and the horror of the botfly is done.

I have never seen a botfly larva infection in a patient of mine but after that Discovery Channel show I am ready to diagnose it. In fact, it reminds me of the way Obama and company have infected our current government and reproduced to swing us towards socialism and years of misery. With unemployment getting near 10% it may be time for the Vaseline and #11 blade. Don't worry, the extraction can be made nearly painless and comes in the form of kicking the thieves out at the ballot box. How's that?

17 comments:

  1. Become a veterinarian, we get to pull these out of animals all the time. Don't need vasoline or a blade, just gentle traction. ;-)

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  2. Bravo!! A little disgusting...but BRAVO!!

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  3. Ah...entomology...my territory...you could have delved in to the legions of bloodsuckers, since they're gonna bleed us dry. Fleas, chagas bugs, ticks, tsetse flies, mosquitoes, sand flies, horse flies, the list goes on and on...

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  4. Nice segue, from politics to parasites! Cover ass boils next.

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  5. Joe Biden is a boil on the butt of humanity...does that count?

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  6. amy,
    a boil on the butt deserves lancing but i'm not sure that biden deserves even this. obama must have eighteen of his best folks around that guy at all times. he's a walking, talking gaff machine.

    peggyU,
    ass boils. okay. maybe my friend etotheipi can comment here as he is an expert on ass cancer which is a bit more serious a problem. i can't think of a worse diagnosis to have to disclose to one's family than ass cancer. not that there is any fault in it, but ass cancer? that really sucks and the treatment and surgery, well, just drown me instead.

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  7. 911:
    Awesome job steering clear of politics (-:
    Botflies are gross, but i saw grosser things during a slide show presented at a MENSA convention (I'm not a member--disastrous boyfriend was) in Vegas by a nerdy infectious disease specialist.. There were was a bolus of worms coming out some little kid's butt and many nasty penis shots. The scariest thing were the MENSA men, though, who chased me down the halls shouting things like, "You look Jewish! Are you Jewish? My name is Arnold!"

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  8. I've never seen botfly either (at least never diagnosed it).

    Still my favorite from med school are Ascaris and Cutanea Larvae Migrans (a couple of AWESOME pics for ya here): http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/emailGalleryForm?uname=erdoc85

    I've never seen them either. Just boring old pinworms. Anybody actually Scotch tape the kid's butt? I just write the Rx for Vermox if the parent says they saw a "wiggly".

    Pretty high incidence of Tinea solium (pork tapeworm) in our Hispanic population. For you non-medical folks, when the eggs of this tapeworm are ingested, they migrate through the intestinal lining and travel throughout the circulatory system settling in muscular tissue and the brain. At this site, cysts develop which calcify. When these occur in the brain, they frequently cause seizures. This condition is called "neurocysticircosis".

    Thanks for the vet info. Interesting.

    -85

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  9. I had to dissect ascaris in college...I used neoprene double gloves cause they said even the formal-D-hyde might not kill the metacercariae...

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  10. I'm so glad you double gloved, Amy.

    You'd be FAR less appealing with the Medusa-like manifestations of the kid in the picture.

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  11. Ugh, the one thing I can't stand is parasites but then I don't really like bugs either.

    Talk about my worse nightmare. Having some bloody tape worm in me.

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  12. 911, when I went down to the Peruvian Amazon with a medical group (doing research for my second novel), we encountered a gent with a botfly wound. The wound itself was pretty small, but as the doc kept digging and digging, things got real messy real fast. I vacillated between barfing my guts out and wicked fascination. They burrowed deeper into man's chest, toward his heart.

    What was a small wound became a huge gaping hole. Those things are real bastards, and I kept every inch of my bod covered - and took an Amazon bath (liberal washover with Deet).

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  14. Lynn, don't use the word "liberal". This is supposed to be a non-political post. I know you're in CA and that word is a mantra out there, but you should be careful. You'll upset the natives.

    BTW, I was in your neck of the woods last week. Sure was glad to get home. I'll take "Texas-wierd" over "California-wierd" any day! Our deviations from the mean aren't nearly as wide. I don't think our folks try as hard.

    I'll swear, if Mexico ever actually DID want to retake the territory, their army could fight with rolled up tortillas and whip the butts of 95% of the men I saw. It'd take the women to save the state......(some of them were downright scary, and I'm not sure they were anatomically female).

    -85

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  15. My apologies for my home state of Califunkia. We are a strange lot, but damn, I love the weather.

    Sorry about using "liberal," I washed my fingers off with Draino.

    And next time you come here, call me, dammit!

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  16. Bravo !! Excellent post! I think I was one of the party's to whom you were referring about giving up the political rants in favor of the old medical ones... Just love your medical stories and get enough politics from Syd over at Cutting thru the Crap blog! I would rather read of obscure botflies than Obama, But I am one among hundreds I am sure that enjoy your blog really no matter what the content! (I must have been having a bad day!)

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  17. I have seen a bot fly infestation in a steer. Long story short, it had had its legs amputated because it had been born in an open field during severe weather and had suffered of frostbite. The owner decided to raise it until it was old enough to butcher. So, they brought it food and water and moved it periodically to prevent sores. Unfortunately, they didn't take into account the parasites who took advantage of an immobile host and the dampness and warmth that accompanied lying in one position for extended periods. It was one of the most pathetic sights I have ever seen. I felt awful for that animal!

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