The woman, 40-year-old Jo Rogers, may have been bitten by a tick while on vacation in Grand Lake, Oklahoma, in early July. Four days after her trip, she experienced flulike symptoms, and was hospitalized a day later, according to CNN.
Doctors tested her for West Nile virus, meningitis and other infections before finally diagnosing her with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is caused by the bacteria Rickettsia rickettsia and transmitted by ticks. Rogers' limbs turned black and blue, and doctors amputated her arms and legs below the knees and elbows, CNN said.
Although it happens rarely, amputation can be necessary in cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever if a patient is not treated early enough, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and a senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Health Security. The antibiotic used to treat the infection works best if it's started before the fifth day of a person's illness, according to the Centers for [Disease] Control and Prevention.
The bacteria attacks the cells lining the blood vessels and provokes an immune response that leads to septic shock. A sobering reminder to outdoorsmen to check for ticks when returning.
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Speaking of bugs, Ars Technica carried a story about the resurgence of tropical diseases in south Texas (with a title almost inviting Betteridge's law: "Can America cope with a resurgence of tropical disease?").
One rainy Friday morning in March 2015, Dr. Laila Woc-Colburn saw two patients with neurocysticercosis (a parasitic infection of the brain) and one with Chagas disease, which is transmitted by insects nicknamed ‘kissing bugs.’ Having attended medical school in her native Guatemala, she was used to treating these kinds of diseases. But she was not in Guatemala anymore—this was Houston, Texas.
[...] “While we were calling them neglected tropical diseases, the ‘tropical’ part is probably a misnomer,” says Hotez. “Most of the world’s neglected tropical diseases are in wealthy countries. It’s the poor living among the wealthy.”
Once aggressive government-funded eradication programs finally halted local malaria transmission, the optimism of the 1950s and early 1960s—combined with the advent of life-saving antibiotics and anti-parasitic drugs—made infectious diseases seem like ancient relics.
“People thought that specializing in infectious diseases would be a waste of time because they would soon be history,” says Lucas Blanton, an infectious disease physician at the University of Texas Medical Branch.[...] Edwards knows a few things about Chagas: it is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and spread by a group of insects called Triatoma, or ‘kissing bugs’ (because they like to bite near the mouth). .... Chagas is a major problem in Latin America, where an estimated 8 million people are infected.
[...] Edwards’ new patient, however, had never been to Latin America. She had never even left the USA. She was, Edwards explains, “your All-American girl,” hardly a candidate for a disease that mainly infected poor, rural populations in Central and South America. ... The case has stayed with Edwards for several reasons, the main one being the mystery of how the girl became infected if she’d never left the country. But south Texas is home to the same kissing bugs that transmit Chagas. The answer, then, had to be this: she had been infected with Chagas in Texas. And she was unlikely to be the only one.
[...] Results from studies that tested donated blood for Chagas support the idea that it is a major problem in Texas. A 2014 study showed that one out of every 6,500 people who donated blood screened positive for Chagas—almost 50 times more than the CDC’s estimate that one in 300,000 Americans was infected.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @10:35AM
This news isn't nearly techy enough.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by basstard on Saturday August 15 2015, @10:56AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:03AM
You should fear tapeworms; you could have a tapeworm inside you right now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @05:10PM
Tapeworms can violate my asshole as much as they please.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Monday August 17 2015, @12:28AM
Here in DC, we have ticks which carry Lyme disease. Really nasty shit. I don't mind rattlesnakes, water moccasins, black widow spiders or anything else. But Lyme ticks scare the shit of of me.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:17AM
No, I read it right... Takyon and/or Phoenix666 may need a well earned weekend?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:19AM
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:30AM
Truly, TF-Author earned her masters degree in journalism.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:27AM
Burning the weekend at both ends! Convert to Islam on Thursday! Convert to Judaism on Friday! Convert to Christianity on Saturday! Snub all the sabbath days every week!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @12:54PM
Might as well die.
Bet they charged her for this "help"
Worse than the disease.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:49PM
I was thinking the same thing. One arm or leg I could handle, but all four, no!
It's not only losing the ability to be able to the the obvious big tasks, but think of all the little things that we take for granted that she suddenly can't do anymore: scratch your nostril, hold a knife and fork, press an itty-bitty button on a remote, pull up your pants, throw a ball, paddle a canoe, tie your shoe, hold a mug, do your buttons, press CTRL-ALT-DEL, write a note, carry a handful of plums, drive, scratch or wipe your butt, brush and floss your teeth. Most of those can be re-learned through training and prosthetics, but I'm too old and impatient for that, hopefully she is stronger.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @03:42PM
Reading horror stories like this make me think that I need to have a living will drawn up with a list of conditions under which the doctors should just let me die on the operating table. Situations like this make it scary to live anywhere that fights a patients right to end their own life.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @05:17PM
I used to think the same as your sentiment. But, then, I wrote a living will right before going in for a cancer surgery with a 5-20% mortality rate (from the surgery itself)-- what I wrote leaned a lot more on the resuscitate side than my earlier self would have written. When death is that close, it becomes a lot harder to write the words, "let me die."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @05:42PM
Different people have different values. I would rather die any sort of horrific death than become a burden on the people that care about me the most. Better to have them lament that I am gone than lament that I will need 24-hour care for decades.
Let the next generation live their own lives. When it is my turn, I will get out of their way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @07:20PM
Plus if you're a Christian or Buddhist or Hindu, dying a bit sooner shouldn't be considered a big problem at all.
Making extraordinary efforts to prolong your mortal life would also be strange. Stay alive if you can still do some good in this world. But once you're a big net cost instead of a net benefit, I don't see why it should be considered a bad thing to be allowed to die if you wanted to.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @01:49PM
Left untreated, the disease kill rate is 75%. The patient lost her limbs because her body tried to save her by prioritizing blood flow to vital organs.This probably happened after she was hospitalized but I guess there isn't an effective treatment for severe damage to blood vessels.
(Score: 3, Informative) by fliptop on Saturday August 15 2015, @02:23PM
I've pulled lots of them off me, my dog and cats too this summer. It's been that way a long time since I've lived in the country most of my life. You can't be afraid of them if you want to do stuff this time of year, like walk in the woods, pick berries, etc. The ones to watch out for are red with black legs. The rest? Seen a million of them...
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @05:11PM
Ones to look for--depends on where you live.
Where I am we have tons of ticks too, but it is a super tiny variety (that I, thankfully, rarely encounter) that usually carries Lyme disease here. Lyme is the worst thing our ticks spread. One nice thing about being in a drought is that the tick population went _way_ down.
I'm currently planning a trip to Australia, and read they have ticks called "paralysis ticks" there. Look nothing like what you describe, nor anything like the Lyme spreaders here-- and can have very nasty effects from a poison they inject into their victim.
Can't stand parasites, either blood-sucking insects, or the rich blood-sucking human kind.
.
-- The rich are like ticks sucking on the ass of humanity.
(Score: 2, Funny) by blackhawk on Sunday August 16 2015, @05:12AM
Paralysis tics are mainly a problem for pets, rather than humans. Most people will spot one well before it's done any real damage to them. Sure, it's the stuff of nightmares for their mouths to be buried into your flesh and for them to lay eggs under your skin, but you're not going to die from it. Lyme's disease isn't meant to be here, but there is at least one confirmed case.
There's plenty of stuff that can kill or seriously wound you over here, but most people will never encounter any of it...unless they go swimming, or walking in the bush, or work in their gardens...
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 17 2015, @08:22PM
Or you, know, go outside and do anything . . .
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @03:43PM
"I'd like to check you for ticks"
Brad Paisley tune [metrolyrics.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @05:16PM
My friend's father got bit by something, not sure what it was (some kinda bug). It gradually but temporarily paralyzed half of his body and eventually, after a week or two, the paralysis wore off. His family told him to see a doctor but he absolutely refused. Within like a month or two he died.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @06:20PM
What we need is a secure electronic medical device (not a stupid smart watch) that continuously checks the body for all infections and foreign bodies and sounds an alarm when something bad happens. Instead of checking for all diseases, which is nearly impossible, it should compare what this body normally contains to what it contains now. Sort of like a filter in a Star-Trek transporter.
Think of the possible military uses of this: Our soldiers can now spread democracy and freedom to anyone with oil without the fear of local desert bugs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @11:02PM
like [...] Star-Trek
The prequel was set in the mid 22nd Century with TOS set a century later.
Seems we have a bit of a wait yet.
spread democracy and freedom
"Join the Army. Travel to exotic places. Meet new people--and kill them."
-- gewg_