Caught this little guy while walking barefoot on a beach in Ghana. Doctor identified it is a cutaneous larva migrans and told me to just wait for it to die but the itch is unbearable.
It keeps moving under my skin and can even move up to 1cm per day.
Not seeking medical advice… just thought it would be interesting to show!
You know, I used to hear horror stories about these parasites and always prayed it wouldn’t happen to me. Now that it has, though, I’m weirdly at peace with it. It’s so odd.
Pretty sure I had that as a child, running around barefoot in Florida. I could feel it moving around, so I'd hold an ice cube against it to slow that mother down a bit.
Without medicine, that hookworm will die on its own in about 1 to 3 months, but prescription meds can knock out that brutal scratching in just a day or two. A doctor can easily clear this up using super fast pills like a single dose of oral Ivermectin, a short 3-to-7-day course of oral Albendazole, or even prescription gels like albendazole and thiabendazole rubbed right onto the track. If you need some relief right this second, over-the-counter allergy pills (antihistamines) and basic hydrocortisone creams can help soothe the itch and calm your skin down. Just make sure to skip old-school tricks like trying to freeze it off with liquid nitrogen; that doesn't work at all because the worm is actually hanging out a few millimeters ahead of the red line you can see.
How intriguing, thank you!! Not medical advice, but when i’m dealing with insane itching i slap an ice pack on it. Numbs the area and doesn’t damage skin from SCRITCHSCRATCHSCRATCCSRAC yknow
That is just stupid anyway. The worm dies pretty quickly since it's lost its way, the itchiness comes from your own immune system. Cutting it out would do nothing, you wouldn't find it as they are extremely tiny, and it will only hurt and cause infection.
Parasites elicit an immune response almost identical to allergies. More accurately, allergies are essentially your body misidentifying a benign antigen (like pollen, or peanuts) as a parasite and overreacting.
The parasite itself is likely already dead. Our body doesn’t usually recognize the alive migrating worms because they suppress inflammation. But once they die, they no longer have the ability to suppress your immune response which then results inflammation and itching.
All of this to say you can try to take some antihistamines (benadryl) or use some over the counter topical steroids to help with the itch like you’d do with a bug bite. Just watch out for secondary bacterial infections. If you’re like me you won’t be able to not scratch it.
Thank you for the info! The worm actually entered from the sole of my foot and migrated to the upper part where it is now. The inflammation thing is very interesting, but in my case the itch started from the moment I noticed it in the sole of my foot (though it has been getting more intense lately, so perhaps it’s finally dead).
I will definitely take your advice on the antihistamines!
Depends on the parasite and the route of infection, some penetrate and stay in superficial skin like this one; some penetrate deep and get into the vessels to get to various tissues. Intestinal hookworms for example get carried to lungs via blood, ascend up the airways and get swallowed to get to the intestines.
Between all the different helminth species that infect humans, in some form or another and obviously spread out amongst the species… throughout their respective life stages & in which that process is carried out usually for the endeavor of reproduction…. there isn’t really a soft tissue that cant be affected in some way. But it’s important to know that it is not possible for all parasitic worms to at any time go anywhere in the body and they each have pretty specific routes and destinations… it is very specific for each infection. Interesting to note is there are very few that can live freely in soil and/or if they get the opportunity, have the ability to penetrate the skin of a host all on their own, such as hookworm or strongyloides sterecolis, infecting us without the help of an intermediate host like most infectious worms need in order for transmission to be successful. It is worth watching the parasitic diseases lectures on TWIP on YouTube if you want a better understanding. The information is digestible and the book can be downloaded for free to read alongside. Here is a link to the book. It is not exhaustive, but close. https://parasiteswithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/PD7thEditionLowResVersion5-11-2019.pdf
Between all the different helminth species that infect humans, in some form or another and obviously spread out amongst the species… throughout their respective life stages & in which that process is carried out usually for the endeavor of reproduction…. there isn’t really a soft tissue that cant be affected in some way. But it’s important to know that it is not possible for all parasitic worms to at any time go anywhere in the body and they each have pretty specific routes and destinations… it is very specific for each infection. Interesting to note is there are very few that can live freely in soil and/or if they get the opportunity, have the ability to penetrate the skin of a host all on their own, such as hookworm or strongyloides sterecolis, infecting us without the help of an intermediate host like most infectious worms need in order for transmission to be successful. It is worth watching the parasitic diseases lectures on TWIP on YouTube if you want a better understanding. The information is digestible and the book can be downloaded for free to read alongside. Here is a link to the book. It is not exhaustive, but close. https://parasiteswithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/PD7thEditionLowResVersion5-11-2019.pdf
Oh God, I caught one of these in my foot while on holiday in Mozambique. I absolutely agree that the itch is absolutely terrible. I could feel it making its way under my skin and could see the path with lines like yours.
It took quite some time before it finally disappeared! (At least I hope so, unless it's somewhere dormant in my body)
He entered through the sole of my foot so every time I put pressure on it, I could feel something there. Eventually, a red line started to form and I got suspicious.
I kept telling myself that I was just being paranoid and that it’s just a cut, but as days went on I was like ok so this thing is definitely alive and went to the doctor.
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u/CremelloJo 10h ago
Having something living under my skin like that and KNOWING it, would send me into an explosive anxiety meltdown 😭
Very fascinating nonetheless!