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Documentary, River Monsters S08E06 Devil of the Deep
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00:00I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist, an underwater detective.
00:10For over 30 years, I've been hunting down freshwater killers.
00:16There are people disappearing all the time.
00:18Mysterious giants that sometimes take out human victims in remote corners of the world.
00:25But have I been overlooking darker and deadlier creatures?
00:29Lurking unseen in lakes and rivers.
00:32Stealthy attackers I can't ignore anymore.
00:36She was vomiting up worms.
00:37I'm on the hunt for a different kind of river monster.
00:42The kind that invades and devours from the inside.
00:47The skin used to fall away.
00:49I'd be foolish to think I'm immune.
00:53So this mission is personal.
00:55The chances are I'm harbouring one of these silent assassins.
00:59It's time to face the truth.
01:01We've seen something.
01:12Most of the places I go to to hunt river monsters are in the tropics.
01:16Africa, Asia and the part of the world where I spent most time, the Amazon in South America.
01:23When I travel, I get inoculated against all the bacteria and viruses that might attack me and potentially kill,
01:30such as hepatitis, typhoid, even rabies.
01:34But what I can't get vaccinated against are parasites.
01:37My crew and I always take important precautions like using insect repellent, filtering water before drinking, and washing hands before eating.
01:48But even if you do all these things, you can't guarantee that stealthy invaders aren't going to get to you.
01:55And parasites just love the places where I fish.
02:00One parasite I didn't avoid is malaria.
02:03I caught it in Africa, in the Congo.
02:06It felt as though a war was raging inside my body.
02:10Suddenly, I was alternating between uncontrollable shivers and burning hot fever.
02:16I remember lying on the ground and people stepping over my body, actually saying that I was going to die.
02:22Luckily, I came back from the brink.
02:25But malaria is just one of a vast number of parasites out there.
02:29And I have to confess, I haven't given them much thought because I feel healthy.
02:34But recently, crew members have come back from my missions with monstrous stowaways.
02:39James was struck down by schistosomiasis caused by a parasitic flatworm.
02:45Thousands of microscopic eggs had lodged in the blood vessels around his bladder.
02:53Luckily, he was diagnosed and treated, and now he's okay.
02:56Doctors also discovered that one of our directors, Dominic, had a white blood cell count that had gone through the roof.
03:03The result of a roundworm known as strongyloidus.
03:08I've been to the same places that they have, and more.
03:11So is there a battle being waged inside my body that I'm completely unaware of?
03:17I need to uncover the truth.
03:20It's time to find out what's living inside me.
03:24To do that, I'm going to need some specialised help.
03:31These parasites are not your run-of-the-mill invaders, and are rarely found in the US or Europe.
03:37And some of the best parasitic disease experts can be found at the world's oldest school of tropical medicine in Liverpool.
03:44To get to the bottom of what might be multiplying inside me, I'm meeting Dr. Nick Beeching.
03:54Hi, Darren.
03:55Nice to meet you.
03:56Come on in.
03:57I understand you go paddling around in rivers some of the time.
04:00That is the thing, yes.
04:01The people I work with have come back with things.
04:04My sort of exposure is many times everybody else.
04:11I'm thinking the arithmetic is possibly not stacking up in my favour, so I just wanted to get...
04:15So let's start with a bit of a travel history, shall we?
04:18Where have you been?
04:20Brazil.
04:20Spent a lot of time in Brazil.
04:23Colombia.
04:25Guyana.
04:26Ecuador.
04:27Suriname.
04:28Argentina.
04:28Nibaragua.
04:28Norway.
04:29Ukraine.
04:29Ethiopia.
04:30Spain.
04:30Uganda.
04:31Kenya, yes, yes.
04:32Tanzania.
04:33South Africa.
04:33Zimbabwe.
04:33Congo.
04:35Okay, I've almost filled the page.
04:37Right.
04:37And Asia.
04:38Asia, well, India.
04:39Thailand, yes.
04:41Cambodia.
04:42Australia.
04:43This is all in the last how many years?
04:45Well, most of it's been in the last sort of eight years, but some of it was before that.
04:50Okay.
04:52To see if my travels have left any obvious symptoms, the doctor needs to give me a preliminary physical examination.
05:00I can just feel the bottom of your liver.
05:01It's just below your ribs.
05:03It feels quite normal.
05:03Okay.
05:05Despite the fact that you've not got any obvious disease, the parasite's pretty clever.
05:10They can hide away.
05:11So we need to do some special tests to see if we can find them.
05:16And some of them are sort of special to our laboratory that wouldn't do elsewhere in other places.
05:20My blood will be tested for signs of infection to see if a parasite has invaded my bloodstream.
05:27Okay.
05:27Okay.
05:27Okay.
05:27Okay.
05:27But that's not all that the doctor wants to test.
05:31All I've got to do now is fill that up and that.
05:36Well, although I look okay outwardly, and I feel okay, statistically, the odds are that there is something invisible going on inside me.
05:55The thing is, I'm not going to get the results now.
05:59The thing is, I'm not going to get the results now.
06:01After the lab, boom.
06:02I'm just going to have to wait for a while.
06:07As a trained biologist, I'm compelled to mount a mission of my own, to find out what parasitic enemies are out there and what could be inside me.
06:18The region where I've spent more time in the water than any other is the Amazon.
06:24And there's no better place to begin my investigation than the city at the heart of the Amazon, Manaus.
06:30The surrounding tropical waters are so prolific that the concentration of fish species is around 10,000 times that of the ocean.
06:40But this region is also a mecca for a collection of deadly parasitic monsters that could have caught me.
06:50Ever since the beginning of human history, right up until the present day, the human species has been drawn to the water.
06:57We use the river to travel on.
06:59We also use it as a source of food.
07:02Now, parasites are drawn to us for exactly the same reasons.
07:06Our blood vessels take them where they want to go.
07:08And they also give them a rich, very concentrated source of food.
07:16I've lost track of the amount of time I've spent in the Amazon.
07:20When I add it up, it's probably more than 1,000 days.
07:23So I need to identify what parasites could be living inside me that may have hitched a ride from here.
07:31The first contender is a flesh-eating parasite that's just raging through these parts of the Amazon.
07:37It's a microbe called Leishmania.
07:40What starts off as fairly harmless-looking sores can develop into horrifying, leaking wounds, which the body's defenses just can't heal.
07:52People tell me there's a woman nearby who's been infected.
08:00She's in the early stages of this deadly flesh-eating disease.
08:05Yulavine first thought this was just a nasty spot that wouldn't go away.
08:09But it's what it can develop into that's truly shocking.
08:15There's another one here. There's three.
08:20The girl's actually only been living in this region here for about a month, something like that.
08:26But everybody else in the family, it sounds like they've all had it.
08:31Her sores are in the early stages, and she's being treated before they grow far worse.
08:35But what's horrifying is that half of the community around here, including her family and friends, are infected.
08:43She's saying, I mean, it seems that she's well aware of what this can develop into.
08:48Leishmaniasis is tough to treat.
08:50Yulavine will need a highly disciplined schedule of 55 injections of chemotherapy-like drugs over the next 20 days.
08:58She hopes this will prevent her sores from turning into grotesque, debilitating wounds.
09:03But there's no guarantee.
09:07What the doctor's saying is it's about the daily habit of going to the water to bathe in the river, basically.
09:13That's where the insects are.
09:16Because flesh-eating Leishmaniasis is spread from person to person by tiny blood-sucking sandflies.
09:23When the parasite entered Yulavine's body, it hijacked her immune system by attacking her body's own defense cells.
09:33It then devoured them from the inside while using them to travel through her body.
09:38Without this vital treatment, the parasite can rapidly multiply, making Yulavine a deadly carrier and turning her small lesions into monstrous, leaking wounds.
09:50If you live here, your chances of catching flesh-eating Leishmaniasis, well, it's almost unavoidable.
09:59Now, I don't live here, but I have spent a lot of time in places like this.
10:03And although Leishmaniasis has been in the back of my mind, I'm now starting to wonder if I haven't worried about it enough.
10:10But for now, my blood samples are still being examined back in England.
10:18And I just have to wait and see if I'm also harboring this flesh-eating parasite.
10:26Meanwhile, back in Manaus, I get a call from the hospital.
10:30A fisherman from deep in the Amazon forest has just been brought in to the specialists.
10:36The Leishmaniasis parasite is storming through his body.
10:40It's out of control, and it's eating him alive.
10:56I'm on one of the most disturbing missions of my career, to uncover what invisible monsters could be living inside me.
11:04I've undergone specialized tests at the world's oldest school of tropical medicine.
11:11While waiting for my results, I'm in the Amazon, getting up close with a parasitic enemy, Leishmaniasis.
11:18It's running riot in this fisherman named Ferro, and it might also be lurking in me.
11:25What was the first thing you noticed?
11:29What was the first thing you noticed?
11:33He first noticed something five years ago, a small lesion on his back.
11:42And he had some treatment then, it got a bit better.
11:44He was born again.
11:45But then it came back, so it's spreading.
11:50He says that it itches, but there's also pain as well.
11:53He says it's like a burning.
11:56What surprises me is that it appeared five years ago, and he was treated at the time.
12:01So why is it so bad today?
12:02He's saying that it's quite common for the patient not to respond to the first treatment.
12:12It will appear to heal, but then the disease will come back.
12:18In Ferro's case, we're talking about a five-year gap.
12:21But the doctor says the parasite can lie dormant for up to 30 years, or even more.
12:27No, it started now, two months ago.
12:31The other thing that's happened recently is that he's felt something in his nose,
12:37and he says he's worried about that.
12:39They've done a biopsy just yesterday, and they found that it's actually spread there as well.
12:43For Ferro, this could be the worst-case scenario,
12:47because now that the deadly parasite has reached his nose,
12:51it can lead to total destruction of the mucous membranes,
12:54resulting in suffocation.
12:57In other words, this could be fatal.
12:59For Ferro to have any chance of survival,
13:02an intensive drug treatment has to start immediately.
13:06But there's no guarantee it will work.
13:10It's disturbing to know that this parasite survived dormant in Ferro's body for five years.
13:17It's really brought home the risks to me.
13:19Well, I must have been bitten over the years by hundreds and hundreds of sand fires.
13:27Now, leishomyosis is something that I have known about,
13:30but to actually see where that can lead,
13:33you know, it really does give you pause for thought to actually see the effects.
13:36I was hoping that coming here would give me reassurance,
13:42but in fact it's making me more concerned about what might crop up in my results.
13:46I need to make a list of what could be living inside me.
13:57Leishomyosis is a definite contender.
14:00But I've heard about something in a more remote part of the Amazon
14:04that sounds even more horrifying.
14:06So I'm leaving Manaus and heading to Tabatinga,
14:13where Brazil meets Colombia and Peru.
14:17I've been here before,
14:19investigating bodies with strange marks resembling burns.
14:24This is the fish that is responsible for killing people.
14:27What we know in English is the electric eel.
14:30This river monster may have electrocuted three men,
14:33but what I'm hearing about now is infesting a whole region.
14:42I need to know more,
14:44so I'm meeting Dr. Waldry,
14:46a field physician who's been based out here for 15 years.
14:49It's microscopic, yes, it's microscopic, it's not possible to see.
14:54It's just the adult vermes that the person sees.
14:57So if she sees, she believes.
14:58He's talking about a parasite called the Ascaris roundworm.
15:03Its microscopic eggs are easily ingested,
15:06and it's thought 70% of people in the Amazon are infected.
15:10The adult parasites multiply in the intestine
15:14and normally lie undetected for years.
15:17But sometimes it's a very different story.
15:21Quite a surprising fact.
15:22He's just said that the incidence of intestinal parasites,
15:25this Ascaris roundworm,
15:26is actually higher than the incidence of malaria,
15:29but people generally aren't aware that it's there.
15:32It's something totally invisible most of the time.
15:38However, a woman who lives near here
15:40has a shocking story to tell
15:42about her young daughter, Yonida.
15:45Her daughter had just a stomachache.
15:59It just persisted.
16:00It just went on and on.
16:01And at first, there was discussion in the family.
16:03They thought it was maybe some kind of curse.
16:06But eventually, they decided,
16:10no, let's take her to the doctor.
16:15The doctors were baffled.
16:16They did an x-ray.
16:17They did ultrasound.
16:19Actually, that didn't really reveal anything,
16:21but it turned out that when she was being examined,
16:24she started vomiting.
16:27And she was vomiting up worms.
16:29Yonida was taken for emergency surgery.
16:38Apparently, one of the medical staff said to her,
16:39look, you know, this is in God's hands,
16:42whether she survives or not.
16:49She says that she's got a picture
16:51that she wants to show me.
16:57Oh, gosh.
16:59I'm on one of my most sinister missions
17:10to find out whether my hunts for river giants
17:13have left me harboring deadly invisible invaders.
17:18While I await my test results,
17:20I'm deep in the Amazon,
17:22uncovering a nightmare attack on a toddler
17:24who started vomiting up parasitic worms,
17:26which may also be breeding inside me.
17:32Oh, gosh.
17:34Yonida's intestine was packed full of Ascaris roundworms.
17:38If you imagine maybe just a few,
17:41this is an absolute infestation.
17:45It's a solid mass that came out.
17:48The child must have unknowingly swallowed
17:50microscopic eggs
17:52that were living in the soil or water.
17:54Once inside her,
17:56they traveled to her intestine,
17:57where they grew into adult worms.
18:00Gorging on her undigested food,
18:02they stole her body's nutrients
18:04and kept multiplying
18:06until the surgeons intervened.
18:08They removed 33 inches of her small intestine.
18:12That's probably actually more than her height at the time.
18:15The good news is,
18:18is that she's running around now
18:20and she's a lot better.
18:24The thing that's becoming clear to me
18:26is that I could easily have these parasitic worms
18:29and not even know it.
18:31Because most parasites
18:33have a fundamentally different tactic
18:34from the giant fish predators
18:36I'm more used to.
18:38What predators do
18:41is catch, subdue,
18:43kill,
18:44and then consume their victims
18:45as quickly as possible.
18:47Parasites do the exact opposite.
18:49A successful parasite
18:50will keep its victim alive
18:53as long as possible,
18:55slowly feeding off it.
18:58The Ascarus roundworm
19:00is no exception
19:01and these things
19:03have lots of opportunities
19:05to get inside me.
19:08I'm particularly thinking
19:10of the time I was in Cambodia
19:11investigating the pincer-like bite
19:14of the pufferfish.
19:16I was in these debris-filled waters
19:19of the Mekong River
19:20in what was essentially
19:21a communal toilet.
19:23The perfect breeding ground
19:25for parasitic worms.
19:28Thinking about it,
19:30I have to say
19:30the likelihood
19:31of having Ascarus roundworms
19:33inside me
19:34has to be high
19:35considering my exposure.
19:36It's making me
19:38even more concerned
19:39about what my lab results
19:41will reveal.
19:44But there are some parasites
19:45that you don't need
19:46a microscope to see.
19:48On a previous investigation
19:50in the Amazon,
19:51I encountered
19:51a parasitic fish
19:52lurking beneath these waters,
19:54the Candiru.
19:55It usually targets
19:57a big fish as its host,
19:59drinking blood
19:59from its gills.
20:00But there have been cases
20:02of mistaken identity
20:03and that's what happened
20:04to this man,
20:06Silvio.
20:07He was relieving himself
20:08in the river
20:09when a Candiru
20:10swam up his penis.
20:12To get it out
20:13required an unprecedented
20:15medical procedure.
20:17The endoscope
20:17was put in the end
20:18of his penis
20:19into the urethra.
20:21Grabbed hold of the fish,
20:22just gradually,
20:23gradually,
20:23very delicately
20:24moved out.
20:26This is one parasite.
20:30If you've got it,
20:31you're absolutely
20:32going to know about it.
20:33I'd been in such pain,
20:34I would just be incapable
20:34of doing anything.
20:35So I can safely cross
20:37the Candiru
20:38off my list.
20:42Candiru attacks
20:43are very rare,
20:45but there's another
20:45visible parasite
20:47you're much more likely
20:48to find hiding
20:49in your body.
20:50It's this
20:51botfly larva.
20:53There are flies
20:54that have developed
20:55this particular strategy,
20:56in pretty much
20:57all of the tropical
20:59locations that I visited.
21:00To survive,
21:01a botfly larva
21:02needs a supply
21:04of nourishing blood
21:05and a warm place
21:07to grow,
21:08which makes me,
21:09or you,
21:11the perfect incubator.
21:13The botfly begins
21:15its life as an egg,
21:16which is deposited
21:17onto a host.
21:19The larva hatches out
21:20and burrows into the skin,
21:22where it grows,
21:24bigger and fatter.
21:25Although unsightly,
21:28the larva will usually
21:29leave its host unscathed.
21:31But I've been told
21:32about a woman nearby
21:33who has fallen victim
21:35to a botfly
21:35in an unusually
21:37horrifying way.
21:39And it's making me
21:40question whether
21:41I've made the mistake
21:42of overlooking
21:43a darker
21:44and deadlier side
21:45to this
21:46common parasite.
21:47This mission is turning
21:59up darker
21:59and more gruesome
22:00monsters,
22:01which I'm beginning
22:02to fear more than
22:03anything I've had
22:04on my line.
22:07I'm in Tabatinga
22:08in Brazil,
22:09and I'm being taken
22:10to visit an elderly
22:11woman named Anisa.
22:12She's fallen victim
22:14to a common parasite,
22:16but she's now suffering
22:17truly nightmarish symptoms.
22:21So this was caused
22:26by a botfly,
22:27which is normally
22:28quite a trivial thing,
22:29but this is absolutely
22:30worst case scenario
22:32for that.
22:32If left undisturbed,
22:38the botfly larva
22:39will normally remain
22:40in the body
22:41for about six weeks.
22:43It then burrows
22:44out of the skin
22:45and falls to the ground.
22:47Four weeks later,
22:48an adult botfly emerges.
22:50It usually leaves
22:52its human host unhurt,
22:53but in Anisa's case,
22:55this didn't happen.
22:57The larva is potentially
22:59still in there
23:00and has caused
23:01a secondary
23:01and deadly infection
23:02that appears
23:03to be attacking
23:04her brain.
23:06To get to a specialised
23:07hospital is a very
23:08long journey,
23:09and it's probably
23:10too late for treatment.
23:13I'm told that Anisa
23:14wishes to spend
23:15what little time
23:16she has left
23:16at home
23:17with her family.
23:20I'm actually still
23:21trying to process this.
23:22That was a botfly
23:23that caused that,
23:23and that is something
23:24that's normally
23:25very trivial.
23:26You know,
23:26it's a bit unsightly.
23:28It hatches,
23:29it goes,
23:30and that's it.
23:30But this is,
23:33by all accounts,
23:33going to be fatal.
23:34It should never,
23:35ever have got
23:35to that stage.
23:36even if they do
23:48get treated,
23:49the people
23:50along these rivers
23:51are straight back
23:52in the same environment
23:53facing the same
23:55deadly invaders.
23:57Now,
23:57I know I don't
23:58have a botfly larva
23:59because it's very
24:00easy to check
24:01for the telltale signs.
24:03But there's one
24:05other thing
24:05which is becoming
24:06very clear,
24:07which is actually
24:08pretty frightening.
24:09And that is,
24:10when I'm in this
24:10environment,
24:11for me to keep
24:12free of parasites,
24:14I've got to be lucky
24:14every single day.
24:16But the parasite
24:17only needs to be lucky
24:19once.
24:23One parasite
24:24that nearly took me out
24:25is thought to have
24:26killed more people
24:27than all the wars
24:28in human history.
24:30Malaria.
24:34That experience
24:35is just burnt
24:36into my memory.
24:37It was 1990,
24:39on a trip to find
24:40the goliath tigerfish
24:41in the Congo.
24:43One night,
24:44I was bitten
24:45by so many mosquitoes
24:46that the parasites
24:47overwhelmed
24:48by anti-malarial
24:49medication.
24:51Ten days later,
24:52the sweats
24:53and chills started.
24:55It was so bad
24:56that even in sweltering
24:57heat,
24:58the disease sent me
24:59into uncontrollable
25:00shivers.
25:02And after losing
25:03count of the number
25:04of days that I'd
25:05suffered,
25:05I took the
25:07pharmaceutical equivalent
25:08of a nuclear bomb.
25:12That probably
25:13saved my life.
25:19I know malaria
25:20is rife in Brazil
25:21around the town
25:22of Tabatinga,
25:23but I'm curious
25:24to know how this
25:25deadly disease
25:26is viewed here.
25:28Is there malaria
25:29also here?
25:30Yes, there's a lot.
25:32What she's saying
25:32is that there's
25:33a big problem here.
25:34Many times malaria.
25:36She's had malaria
25:37twice,
25:38and it's all
25:39mosquitoes around
25:40in the atmosphere here.
25:44Although curable
25:45with modern medicine,
25:46one more bite
25:47and you could have it again.
25:49It's a lottery.
25:51How many times?
25:52Seven times.
25:52Seven times.
25:53Yeah, this man
25:54has had malaria
25:55seven times.
25:56He went to a medical
25:56post.
25:57They treated it.
25:59He said it didn't work.
26:00He actually had
26:01a traditional remedy
26:02and he said that
26:02cleared it up
26:03and it's not come back
26:04for ten years.
26:07He says,
26:07if I want to understand
26:08how malaria
26:09is sometimes treated
26:10in this remote part
26:11of the Amazon,
26:12I need to visit
26:13a tikkuner shaman
26:14a few miles upstream.
26:19His patients today
26:20are two young girls,
26:22Maria and Dayani,
26:23who were struck down
26:24by the disease
26:25only a few days ago.
26:26So what we've done,
26:28we've actually cut
26:29a piece of vine.
26:30That's then going
26:31to be boiled up
26:31with water
26:32to make a preparation
26:33to give to the patient.
26:36The malaria parasites
26:37have travelled
26:38to the girls' livers
26:39and reproduced.
26:41The new parasites
26:42then spread
26:43into their bloodstream
26:44where they attacked
26:45the red blood cells.
26:47It's when these cells
26:48break apart
26:49that the fever
26:50and nausea start.
26:51This ancient remedy
26:55contains a bark
26:57and bark is the source
26:58of quinine,
26:59a modern anti-malarial drug
27:01that we use
27:02in the West.
27:05It's coming up
27:06to that time
27:07when the mosquitoes
27:08start flying
27:09so I'm well covered up
27:10and then the bits
27:11that aren't covered.
27:13Get the repellent on.
27:16This is a US
27:17military chemical
27:18used in the Vietnam War
27:19and commonly known
27:20as DEET.
27:21I'm told
27:31that Tikuna believe
27:32that the smoke
27:33and singing
27:33will call the spirits
27:34to help administer healing
27:36while this medicinal remedy
27:38will attack
27:39the malaria parasites
27:40and eventually purge
27:41the disease
27:42from the body.
27:44With any illness
27:45it's not just your body
27:46it's your mind.
27:47Particularly something
27:48like malaria.
27:49It's a powerful disease.
27:51It's almost like
27:52there's a sort of
27:53a battle raging
27:54inside your body.
27:57Sometimes you're winning.
28:00Sometimes
28:01it's the malaria
28:02that's winning.
28:02if you haven't had malaria
28:07those girls
28:08looking at them
28:08they look fine
28:09but what happens
28:11is it intensifies
28:12and then it quietens down
28:13and then
28:14you actually feel better
28:15and if you didn't know
28:16what it was
28:17you'd think maybe
28:17that you're cured
28:18but then it comes back
28:19and it can come back
28:20so badly
28:20even if it's not going to kill you
28:24you actually want to die
28:25it can be that bad.
28:26my results
28:35should be
28:36in any time now
28:37but I need to stay
28:38and investigate
28:38one final thing
28:39elephantiasis.
28:41Most people think
28:42of this man
28:43Joseph Merrick
28:44better known
28:44as the elephant man
28:45when they think
28:46of elephantiasis
28:47but his condition
28:49was symptomatic
28:50of a genetic disorder
28:51not a disease
28:52he caught.
28:55Elephantiasis
28:55is commonly
28:56the result
28:57of lymphatic
28:58filariasis
28:59a massive invasion
29:01of a
29:02microscopic
29:03parasitic worm.
29:06It's transmitted
29:07by mosquitoes
29:08and can cause
29:09horrifying
29:09and debilitating
29:10deformities.
29:12Perhaps
29:12this is the one
29:13that I find
29:14the most frightening
29:15because once
29:17you've got
29:17elephantiasis
29:18it's
29:20a life sentence.
29:22But I've discovered
29:23a clinic
29:24the only one
29:25in Brazil
29:25that may have
29:26found a remedy.
29:29I'm traveling
29:30nearly 2,000 miles
29:32southeast
29:32to San Jose
29:33do Rio Preto.
29:35I've been invited
29:36to the clinic
29:37to meet Raimundo
29:38a current patient.
29:39So Jeremy?
29:41Can I sit?
29:43The first time
29:44I've been
29:44in Manaus
29:44for about 15 years
29:46but after
29:47I've already returned.
29:47Right, this dates
29:48back quite a few years
29:4915 years or so.
29:54Raimundo
29:55was working
29:55as a therapeutic
29:56masseur.
29:57He was mainly
29:57treating football players.
29:59There was a tournament
30:00in Manaus
30:01but in between
30:02the games
30:02there was some time off.
30:05Raimundo remembers
30:06that he went
30:06to a local creek
30:07in the early evening
30:08with some of his
30:09fellow players
30:10to relax
30:11and cool down.
30:14He remembers
30:15being bitten
30:16by mosquitoes
30:17and he thinks
30:19it was this
30:20ordinary event
30:21that ended up
30:21changing the course
30:22of his life
30:23forever.
30:24I'm coming to the end
30:35of one of my
30:36most sinister missions
30:37one that's taken me
30:38deep into the Amazon
30:39and turned up darker
30:41and more terrifying
30:42monsters
30:42than anything
30:43I've had on my line.
30:45But there's one
30:46parasitic invader
30:47that perhaps disturbs me
30:48beyond all others.
30:50It's the one
30:51that causes
30:52elephantiasis.
30:54It can lie
30:55undetected
30:55for years.
30:57So if my test results
30:58back in Liverpool
30:59reveal that I have this
31:00well I simply
31:02can't imagine
31:03being in Raimundo's
31:04situation
31:04because what happened
31:06to him
31:07is unbelievably horrific.
31:13He recalls
31:14being bitten
31:14by lots of mosquitoes
31:15but like most places
31:18in the Amazon
31:19their presence
31:20is common.
31:21and being bitten
31:22is just a way
31:23of life.
31:25But on that day
31:26there were more
31:27mosquitoes than usual
31:28and an infected one
31:29bit Raimundo
31:30releasing parasitic worm
31:33larvae
31:33into his bloodstream
31:34where they travelled
31:37into his lymph vessels
31:38a vital part
31:40of the body's
31:40circulatory system.
31:43And he says
31:46it was literally
31:46a matter of days
31:47that he noticed
31:49something with his
31:50left leg
31:50it started swelling
31:51as well as the swelling
31:53he said it was also
31:54a sensation of heat
31:57he said it was almost
31:58like it was
31:58burning.
32:00after about 10 years
32:05it was actually almost
32:08unbearable
32:08the skin used to fall away
32:11and he actually got
32:14infestations
32:15of other
32:16parasites in the skin
32:18particularly in his foot
32:19so it sounded
32:20pretty horrible.
32:22over time
32:24the adult worms
32:25clogged up
32:26the lymph vessels
32:27in his leg
32:27fluid built up
32:31causing gigantic
32:32and horrifying
32:33swellings
32:33with powerful drugs
32:37Raimundo was eventually
32:39freed of the parasite
32:40but irreversible damage
32:42had already been done
32:43he said there's no way
32:47that this can be stopped
32:49there's no way
32:50that I can do anything
32:51about it
32:51he said he got just
32:52really really depressed
32:53he prayed a lot
32:54almost lost the will
32:56to live
32:57and this went on
32:57for 20 years
32:59it's only now
33:03to be precise
33:0419 days ago
33:06that Raimundo
33:06arrived here
33:07at Dr. Godoy's clinic
33:09for the first time
33:11he's receiving
33:12proper treatment
33:13it's having a profound
33:15unnoticeable effect
33:17this disease is difficult
33:20for some people
33:21to look at
33:21but the tough part
33:22for me
33:23is knowing that Raimundo
33:24has to live with it
33:25every day
33:26now this is very hard
33:28to believe
33:28but this is actually
33:29a considerable improvement
33:30on when Raimundo
33:31first came in here
33:32when he first came
33:34Dr. Godoy couldn't
33:36touch his hands
33:37he couldn't get his arms
33:38all the way around
33:39the leg
33:40there was a gap
33:40of about a foot
33:41something like that
33:42so already a dramatic
33:43improvement
33:44and the aim is
33:46to get this leg
33:47equal to the other one
33:48in order to achieve that
33:50Dr. Godoy has designed
33:52a simple and effective
33:53treatment
33:54all of this extra bulk
34:02most of it is liquid
34:04the skin
34:05obviously stretches
34:07to accommodate that
34:08so in fact
34:09it is possible
34:10to get rid of this
34:11quite quickly
34:11first
34:12the leg is wrapped
34:13in bandages
34:14then it's laced
34:16into this
34:16a special type
34:17of corset
34:18the compression device
34:20gently squeezes the leg
34:22forcing the lymph fluid out
34:24as the corset is tightened up
34:25throughout the day
34:26the leg is also raised slightly
34:28the gravity helps that process
34:30and then every hour or so
34:32he's going to go
34:32and relieve himself
34:33because what's happening
34:34to that fluid
34:35the kidneys are filtering it
34:36they're processing it
34:37it's being eliminated
34:38from the body
34:38Dr. Godoy's simple methods
34:41have provided a true revolution
34:43in the treatment
34:44of elephantiasis
34:45his results
34:46with past patients
34:47have been nothing short
34:49of miraculous
34:50the hope now
34:52is that Raimundo
34:53will be his next success
34:55I'm just trying to
34:57put myself in Raimundo's position
34:59and the fact is
35:00I actually can't
35:01the odds were just
35:03ridiculous
35:04one mosquito
35:06biting him
35:06and I think if that was me
35:08I don't think I would have
35:11survived mentally
35:13spiritually
35:14to arrive at the point
35:15that he has
35:17eventually arrived at now
35:18where finally
35:19after all this time
35:20there is hope
35:21this investigative journey
35:25has hurled me out
35:26of my comfort zone
35:27and although I've spent
35:29more than 30 years
35:30getting up close and personal
35:32to large
35:33toothy
35:34flesh-eating
35:35apex predators
35:36what I've witnessed
35:38with these monstrous parasites
35:40is making me wonder
35:41whether my world is about
35:42to be turned
35:43inside out
35:44it's definitely time
35:46to go back to Liverpool
35:47and find out
35:48what microscopic monsters
35:50are living
35:51inside me
35:52I've been on one of my most disturbing missions ever
36:04hunting down invisible invaders
36:07that could be living inside me
36:09oh gosh
36:10I've come back to Liverpool
36:13to the school of tropical medicine
36:15my lab results are in
36:17I guess
36:19this is the moment of truth
36:21you've been to so many countries
36:29I've got lots of results
36:31so I'll cut to the chase
36:34and we'll just go through them
36:35really
36:35Nishmaniasis
36:37you haven't picked that up
36:41malaria
36:43I had this a long time ago
36:46but I recovered
36:47those tests are all negative
36:50we looked in your urine
36:52to see if you had eggs
36:53of schistosomiasis
36:55bilharzia
36:55something that I've definitely
36:57been exposed to
36:58because one of my crew members
37:00had it
37:01there's no blood in your urine
37:03and you'll be pleased to know
37:05no parasites in your urine either
37:06but I'm dreading the next one
37:09the filariasis
37:10this is the one that I find
37:13the most horrifying
37:14that was negative
37:16this seems almost too good
37:18to be true
37:19looked at the stool samples
37:22no features of any worms
37:24which was one of the things
37:26you were worried about
37:27but we've seen something
37:30a number of parasites
37:34we found some amoeba
37:38in the stool
37:39and these are things that can cause
37:40amoebic dysentery
37:41or severe diarrhoea
37:42I'm being told
37:44that in my body
37:45I have a parasitic river monster
37:47that has invaded
37:49my intestinal lining
37:50is it quietly attacking
37:53my body's cells
37:54and devouring them
37:55is a ruthless killer
37:58living inside me
37:59but there are two kinds
38:01the lab ran an extra test
38:03to be sure
38:04what type I have
38:05you've got the much more
38:07common harmless kind
38:08so I'm looking alright
38:10you're saying
38:11I'm feeling okay
38:12I mean is it possible
38:13to get rid of that
38:14or is that something
38:15you just sort of live with
38:15yeah most people live with it
38:17but if we think
38:18it's causing a problem
38:19it's relatively easy
38:20to treat with some antibiotics
38:21and I would have been astonished
38:23if we didn't find this
38:24given your travel history
38:26a surprisingly clear bill of health
38:28given the number of countries
38:31you've been to
38:31and the amount of exposure
38:33that you've told me about
38:34in those various countries
38:35I feel like I've gotten away
38:38by the skin of my teeth
38:39from some of the world's
38:41deadliest parasites
38:42I have to say
38:47I am so relieved
38:48that despite all my travels
38:50I have remained pretty safe
38:53so does that mean
38:55I should quit while I'm ahead
38:56well as with all my investigations
38:58knowledge is power
39:00and although this might sound strange
39:01I actually feel better equipped now
39:03to keep safe in the future
39:06it's been a very personal journey
39:10to hunt down
39:11these microscopic river monsters
39:13and I feel I've been very lucky
39:15but for the people I met
39:17their stories continue
39:19Fero the fisherman
39:22returned home two months later
39:24with the all clear
39:25from leishmaniasis
39:26and the doctors remain hopeful
39:29Yonida
39:30the little girl
39:31who had the horrific infestation
39:33of intestinal worms
39:34is miraculously leading
39:36a normal life
39:37and has just started
39:38kindergarten
39:39very sadly
39:41Anisa
39:42the elderly woman
39:43with the botfly infection
39:44died a few weeks
39:46after I saw her
39:47Maria and Dayani
39:50the two girls with malaria
39:52made a full recovery
39:53and Raimundo
39:55after 20 years
39:57of living with his disfiguring
39:58and debilitating disease
39:59is back at home
40:00his leg is nearly down
40:02to normal size
40:03at last
40:05he's regained
40:05his independence
40:06and dignity
40:07he'sesti
40:08he's
40:25he's
40:25he's
40:26he's
40:27they
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