Post by felixwillford on Aug 11, 2008 19:23:20 GMT -5
www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/08/11/hjn081108parasite.html
Source of rare parasite a mystery
Man's infection is usually only seen in developing countries, but can take years to manifest itself.
By Richard Wilson
Staff Writer
Monday, August 11, 2008
WAYNE TOWNSHIP — Bill Bowling of Wayne Twp. has been fighting for his life after falling mysteriously ill at the end of May.
The 67-year-old found out almost too late that he was infected by a rare parasite, strongyloides, which is typically found in contaminated soils in other countries that have poor sanitary conditions.
Dr. Richard Sternberg, the pulmonary critical care physician who treated Bowling, plans to write a report for a medical journal on Bowling's case and how the parasite causes asthmaticlike symptoms.
"It's only the third case (of strongyloides) I've seen in 20 years," Sternberg said.
iceh.uws.edu.au/fact_sheets/FS_stronyloidiasis.html
Bowling's diagnosis came at the 11th hour. Kathy Bowling was sitting in the hospital waiting room writing down songs for her husband's funeral. She was preparing to tell the doctor to take her husband off the ventilator.
"I wasn't thinking straight, but I had to come to grips with reality," said Kathy, 65.
The doctor told Kathy about how rare the parasite was, and that up to 85 percent of strongyloides victims die.
Sternberg said the parasite is absorbed through the skin, and can lie dormant inside the colon for decades without the host feeling sick. Symptoms of infection, which include breathing problems, diarrhea and rashes, don't begin until the parasite starts reproducing and traveling along the bloodstream to the lungs and back to the colon, Sternberg said.
Strongyloides, which infects some 30 million people in 70 countries, can be tough to diagnose because conventional stool examination techniques fail to detect the parasite's larvae in up to 70 percent of cases.
How Bowling became infected with the parasite is the million-dollar question.
Sternberg said the parasite lives in soil where there is poor sanitary conditions. War veterans sometimes get infected after unknowingly acquiring the parasite years ago while overseas, he said.
Kathy said her husband was never in a war. She wonders if her husband came in contact with the parasite when their house flooded in the spring. She said it was around the time that their neighbor's septic tank had been dug up.
Without having their backyard soil tested, Sternberg said he couldn't rule it out as a possibility.
Meanwhile, Bowling is expected to be released from the Drake Center on Tuesday, Aug. 12. From there, he'll stay at the Berkley Square retirement community in Hamilton, where he'll undergo physical therapy.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
Seems this reporter may be interested in our stories on Morgellons!
Source of rare parasite a mystery
Man's infection is usually only seen in developing countries, but can take years to manifest itself.
By Richard Wilson
Staff Writer
Monday, August 11, 2008
WAYNE TOWNSHIP — Bill Bowling of Wayne Twp. has been fighting for his life after falling mysteriously ill at the end of May.
The 67-year-old found out almost too late that he was infected by a rare parasite, strongyloides, which is typically found in contaminated soils in other countries that have poor sanitary conditions.
Dr. Richard Sternberg, the pulmonary critical care physician who treated Bowling, plans to write a report for a medical journal on Bowling's case and how the parasite causes asthmaticlike symptoms.
"It's only the third case (of strongyloides) I've seen in 20 years," Sternberg said.
iceh.uws.edu.au/fact_sheets/FS_stronyloidiasis.html
Bowling's diagnosis came at the 11th hour. Kathy Bowling was sitting in the hospital waiting room writing down songs for her husband's funeral. She was preparing to tell the doctor to take her husband off the ventilator.
"I wasn't thinking straight, but I had to come to grips with reality," said Kathy, 65.
The doctor told Kathy about how rare the parasite was, and that up to 85 percent of strongyloides victims die.
Sternberg said the parasite is absorbed through the skin, and can lie dormant inside the colon for decades without the host feeling sick. Symptoms of infection, which include breathing problems, diarrhea and rashes, don't begin until the parasite starts reproducing and traveling along the bloodstream to the lungs and back to the colon, Sternberg said.
Strongyloides, which infects some 30 million people in 70 countries, can be tough to diagnose because conventional stool examination techniques fail to detect the parasite's larvae in up to 70 percent of cases.
How Bowling became infected with the parasite is the million-dollar question.
Sternberg said the parasite lives in soil where there is poor sanitary conditions. War veterans sometimes get infected after unknowingly acquiring the parasite years ago while overseas, he said.
Kathy said her husband was never in a war. She wonders if her husband came in contact with the parasite when their house flooded in the spring. She said it was around the time that their neighbor's septic tank had been dug up.
Without having their backyard soil tested, Sternberg said he couldn't rule it out as a possibility.
Meanwhile, Bowling is expected to be released from the Drake Center on Tuesday, Aug. 12. From there, he'll stay at the Berkley Square retirement community in Hamilton, where he'll undergo physical therapy.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
Seems this reporter may be interested in our stories on Morgellons!