Nasty bug

jim king · June 16, 2011, 06:01:25 PM

This happened a couple of nights ago. I got bit and in 4 or 5 hours I had a swollen finger and a black spot with a hole in the center which I shoud have taken a picture of but it hurt to much . The next day I pulled off the rotten skin and cleaned it as best I could.

I started taking a heavy dose of antibotic immediatly as well as an antibiotic cream on the surface. If you don´t stop this immediatly it will continue to grow and eventually kill you and is unstopable. I ran a high fever the first night and shook a lot. The only thing good about these kind of things is that one gets severe chills which is hard to do here.

I don´t know the name of this one but it is similar to what they call here Open Sore Chagas. I have a friend who was several days into the jungle and before he got out he was bad and eventually lost half his face.

Ron Scott · June 16, 2011, 08:21:31 PM

Doesn't look good. A bad venom for sure.

jim king · June 17, 2011, 04:09:20 AM

Ron:

This is not a venom that works as a meat tenderizer and rots the flesh away as with a snake bite. This is a flesh eating bacteria implanted into the bite.

SwampDonkey · June 17, 2011, 05:11:03 AM

Those must be the things "scientists" search out for biological weapons. ;)

Sure looks nasty Jim.

Cold will kill anything nasty.

jim king · June 17, 2011, 09:04:56 AM

SD:

You are right. Cold is good. In the tropics we have more creatures than you can imagine. A few years ago we had a retired US Federal Judge here building a lodge for abandond kids and he just flat died after a short illness and the autopsy came up with nothing. Good thing it is not that common. Most people who die here have a visable reason.

ely · June 17, 2011, 10:00:08 AM

i would have shocked it imediatly. then went on with the other treatments.

jim king · June 17, 2011, 10:17:16 AM

Quotei would have shocked it imediatly. then went on with the other treatments.

I definitly shocked it and I will be on antibiotics for at least another 20 days. How you know this is gone is by sticking yourself with a a pin or something to see if it pops up there. If it gets infected from the inside out you keep up with the antibiotics.

SwampDonkey · June 17, 2011, 10:19:20 AM

I woulda took a red hot burning stick and cauterized it right quick. Fire will kill anything to. ;D

jim king · June 17, 2011, 10:22:11 AM

QuoteI woulda took a red hot burning stick and cauterized it right quick. Fire will kill anything to

Do you start at the toes or finger tips ???

SwampDonkey · June 17, 2011, 10:25:36 AM

Right at the target site. And no dob'n, hold the sucker there for 5 secs. Then lotsa cold water. :D

jim king · June 17, 2011, 10:27:10 AM

But who is going to hold me down ?

SwampDonkey · June 17, 2011, 10:38:45 AM

Don't ya remember some of them old westerns? All you need is a stick to bite down on. :D :D :D ;)

Patty · June 17, 2011, 06:17:00 PM

And a stiff shot of whiskey! :D

doctorb · June 17, 2011, 06:26:21 PM

Jim -

I have no idea what that is, so I defer to your knowledge of these jungle acquired maladies. But I must say that, for it to react that fast, it is definitely some sort of necrosis producing toxin in the bite, and not just a bacterial infection.

jim king · June 17, 2011, 06:54:59 PM

doctorb:

I lifted this photo off the internet . This is exactly what it looked like the first morning. Another started today on my left arm in a scratch. I think I got it stopped .
I am putting an ointment on the sores called Iconyl which has in it Betametasona, Clotimazol and Gentimicina.

For internal I am taking Doxitel 200 once a day. It is used by the vets for animals and they say it is better than Doxicyclina.

This is not going to be fun at all.

fuzzybear · June 17, 2011, 07:23:31 PM

I'll take my 50 gazillion mosquito any day. Hope it gets better soon.
FB

Ianab · June 17, 2011, 09:11:45 PM

Quote from: doctorb on June 17, 2011, 06:26:21 PM
Jim -

I have no idea what that is, so I defer to your knowledge of these jungle acquired maladies. But I must say that, for it to react that fast, it is definitely some sort of necrosis producing toxin in the bite, and not just a bacterial infection.

That was my initial thought as well. It looks like some of those nasty spider bites.

But your treatment, removing the dead tissue and using antibiotics to reduce any secondary infection, which is likely because of the original toxin damage, sounds sensible. Left untreated it could certainly get even nastier.

Ian

WildDog · June 18, 2011, 03:00:11 AM

Geez Jim that doesn't look to good, looks like that jungle living sorts the men out from the boys, take care.

Christmas eve 3yrs ago I was asleep on the lounge and woke to some pain above my eyebrow, I reached up and grabbed a long skinny thing and said, "You bit me you "B" and threw it on the floor, one of my boys turned the light on and said, Its a real big White Tip dad. These spiders have a rep for causing pretty bad necrosis. It was really hot, not as painfull as my Red Back/Blackwidow bite. I thought i'd wake up in the morniing with my face melting, but there was only 2 little holes and occassionally I get a little crater like sore a bit like a skin cancer.

jim king · June 18, 2011, 09:42:15 AM

The medicine has really taken hold well and the hole in my finger is staying a natural color and not expanding and I can bend the finger again. The scratch on left arm is not getting worse. It looks as if the medicine is working very well. This is the second time they have recomended it here as the standard treatments were not to successful. I am pleased that the Docs and the Vets drink beer together and share information.

Looks like I was worried about nothing. I will update in a few days.

If I dissapear for a few days it is because the telephone company is threatening to update the service in this part of town and install new everything. They are not known for their expertise so I may be limited to talking to Bulgaria or some such place when they are done but eventually they will get it going.

doctorb · June 18, 2011, 05:26:05 PM

Jim

That hardened black scar is called an eskar. Do not peel it off. Let the tissue heal in below it and it will fall / peel off by itself. It can take several weeks to even a few months. It's one of natures best dressings.

jim king · June 18, 2011, 07:29:37 PM

doctorb:

I took the black scab off as soon as I saw it. I didnt know. But it is looking OK and I can now bend my finger normal and the fever is gone. I tried to take a picture but it wont come out until I have daylight. Í will post a photo tomorrow morning of the bite and my left arm.

The Vet just left and said it will be OK.

Looking good.

Jim

jim king · June 19, 2011, 10:33:11 AM

Here is the bite on the finger this morning. It might not look good to others but it looks good to me. It stopped growing or I probably would have just had a bone sticking out there by now.

The sore started on my left arm from the little monsters in the in the blood also is stopped and drying.

jim king · June 25, 2011, 12:45:09 PM

It is drying up and nothing running out of it any more. It still feels like it is on fire.

I can only imagine the pain some one goes through if they do not stop this immediatly and it slowly eats them up. A bullet would be the best alternative.

I am still on 600 mg of Doxiciclina daily for a couple more weeks to be safe. Doing a search on the internet there is very little information on this and what I did find was from Brazil in Portuguese. It said about 50,000 people a year die from this. In English I found nothing. I find that unusual.