Man comes back from Belize with nasty flesh-eating parasite
- 8 years ago
BELMOPAN, BELIZE — One man’s relaxing vacation turned into a nightmare, after he discovered he was being eaten alive by flesh-eating bugs.
Mark Ward, a retired firefighter from Prescott, Arizona, began noticing tiny bumps on his body while vacationing in Belize with his wife, according to the Animal Planet program Monsters Inside Me. He dismissed them thinking they were simply bug bites.
In reality, Ward had been bitten by a sandfly and infected with a deadly parasite called leishmania. The parasite had burrowed itself into his cells and was now multiplying inside his body.
Within days, the bumps had developed into huge lesions, and Ward could feel the flesh-eating bugs ravaging him from the inside.
He lost weight and was constantly tired, but it wasn’t until moving his hand became painful that Ward decided to seek medical help.
The couple tried getting treated in Belize, but soon flew back home to Arizona.
Doctors were initially baffled as to what was causing the skin lesions. They tested his blood and skin samples, thinking it was some kind of contact skin infection. It wasn’t until a specialist from Phoenix saw Ward that he was diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Fortunately, doctors were able to cure him.
The parasite that Ward contracted is not often found in the U.S., though other flesh-eating bugs like a brain-eating amoeba have recently caused panic in the South.
Mark Ward, a retired firefighter from Prescott, Arizona, began noticing tiny bumps on his body while vacationing in Belize with his wife, according to the Animal Planet program Monsters Inside Me. He dismissed them thinking they were simply bug bites.
In reality, Ward had been bitten by a sandfly and infected with a deadly parasite called leishmania. The parasite had burrowed itself into his cells and was now multiplying inside his body.
Within days, the bumps had developed into huge lesions, and Ward could feel the flesh-eating bugs ravaging him from the inside.
He lost weight and was constantly tired, but it wasn’t until moving his hand became painful that Ward decided to seek medical help.
The couple tried getting treated in Belize, but soon flew back home to Arizona.
Doctors were initially baffled as to what was causing the skin lesions. They tested his blood and skin samples, thinking it was some kind of contact skin infection. It wasn’t until a specialist from Phoenix saw Ward that he was diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Fortunately, doctors were able to cure him.
The parasite that Ward contracted is not often found in the U.S., though other flesh-eating bugs like a brain-eating amoeba have recently caused panic in the South.