10-02-2018, 08:45 AM
Just returned from Negril and felt a slight itch on my toe. Having had "hookworm" in the past from a different island I thought "oh noooo".
Yep, on closer inspection there is the serpentine track and that extreme "ick" factor realization that a parasite is there.
Dr. confirmed it and informed me that these days it is harder to get the preferred medicine for it (Albendazole). In the US anyway, he said if I were in Africa it would be readily available. Pharmacies can order it, they just don't carry it on hand. I was able to get it 24 hours later. Not bad, but the sooner you treat it, the better. Itch fighting medicine (benadryl type) works in the meantime.
(warning, if you google any of these terms, it may be somewhat gross).
For clarification, because "hookworm" covers many things, specifically this is Ancylostoma braziliense (in the intestines of cats and dogs, but can penetrate outer skin of humans and eventually die there). and the
infection is cutaneous larval migration.
Incidentally, Albendazole was featured in an NPR story just last year as an example of drugs with expired patents that are inexplicably priced 10,000 times higher in the U.S. than in Africa. That's not an exaggeration. $0.04 in Africa and $400.00 in U.S.
(inexplicable unless considering Pharma company profit motive).
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/12/11/567753423/why-a-pill-thats-4-cents-in-tanzania-costs-up-to-400-in-the-u-s
"Why A Pill That's 4 Cents In Tanzania Costs Up To $400 In The U.S."
Insurance had my co-pay at $70 and the "retail price" was listed as $2800 for the total 12 pill dose.
Yes, I walk the beach with no shoes. It also rained very heavily every day the past week or so. Not sure if that matters, but I think flooding can distribute the ill effects of dogs/cats roaming the beaches.
Yep, on closer inspection there is the serpentine track and that extreme "ick" factor realization that a parasite is there.
Dr. confirmed it and informed me that these days it is harder to get the preferred medicine for it (Albendazole). In the US anyway, he said if I were in Africa it would be readily available. Pharmacies can order it, they just don't carry it on hand. I was able to get it 24 hours later. Not bad, but the sooner you treat it, the better. Itch fighting medicine (benadryl type) works in the meantime.
(warning, if you google any of these terms, it may be somewhat gross).
For clarification, because "hookworm" covers many things, specifically this is Ancylostoma braziliense (in the intestines of cats and dogs, but can penetrate outer skin of humans and eventually die there). and the
infection is cutaneous larval migration.
Incidentally, Albendazole was featured in an NPR story just last year as an example of drugs with expired patents that are inexplicably priced 10,000 times higher in the U.S. than in Africa. That's not an exaggeration. $0.04 in Africa and $400.00 in U.S.
(inexplicable unless considering Pharma company profit motive).
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/12/11/567753423/why-a-pill-thats-4-cents-in-tanzania-costs-up-to-400-in-the-u-s
"Why A Pill That's 4 Cents In Tanzania Costs Up To $400 In The U.S."
Insurance had my co-pay at $70 and the "retail price" was listed as $2800 for the total 12 pill dose.
Yes, I walk the beach with no shoes. It also rained very heavily every day the past week or so. Not sure if that matters, but I think flooding can distribute the ill effects of dogs/cats roaming the beaches.