Posted on 09/20/2010 11:02:25 PM PDT by iowamark
John Matthews loves to hunt turkeys and travel to foreign places like Mexico. During one of those adventures, something crawled inside his body.
“It’s so small, you couldn’t even see it, feel it,” Matthews said.
When two dark spots appeared in his vision and his eyesight became a little hazy, he headed to the doctor.
“It was kind of like looking through a muddy lens,” he said.
Doctors struggled to diagnose what was wrong with John’s left eye. Then, Dr. James Folk at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics found the problem.
“Just by luck, the first picture we looked at, we saw the worm, right in the middle of the retina,” Folk said.
A microscopic worm was swimming around inside John’s eye.
“It actually lives underneath the retina of the eye and crawls around and eats the retina,” Folk said. “The worm goes into the gut, digests in the gut, and actually doesn’t crawl through the blood vessels, but crawls through the tissue all the way to the eyes and the brain.”...
Soon after making the diagnosis, Dr. Folk armed himself with a laser and put the worm in the cross-hairs...
Dr. Folk said, “When you hit it with the laser, it got very upset. As upset as a worm can get, I suppose…The thing was just thrashing around violently. It would be like one of those titan movies or something.”...
The worm is dead. It will decompose over time. Now, John must do computer exercises to strengthen his eye...
Folk says, in one day, an adult raccoon can shed 60 million eggs that contain these kinds of worms. Folk says Matthews could have somehow ingested raccoon dander. However, John will probably never know exactly how or when the worm got inside him.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegazette.com ...
Yuck!!! I love watching medical shows but this totally creeps me out!!!!
Creepy. But how do it know, buried inside tissue, which is the way to the eyes and brain? Road signs left by previous worms?
In another movie I learned about these other creatures that steal your vital fluids.
Well, my wife used to have some bright green contacts, maybe they come in checked as well.
"Winkie on the blinkie? Schlong not long? Get Worm-B-Gone!"
OK, it took me a minute, but that was funny!
;-) Thank you!
Botfly larva? Find ‘em on chipmunks and bunnies. Truly horrific creatures.
an adult raccoon can shed 60 million eggs that contain these kinds of wormsaren't they cute, though? Raccoons I mean? They make great PELTS and HATS. Thanks iowamark.
Thank goodness we have coyotes, but we did see a raccoon in our yard this summer. They also carry distemper.
Still Thinking ~ Well, my wife used to have some bright green contacts, maybe they come in checked as well.
Checkered Contact Lense Kit
£23.99
Checker pattern contact lense kit. Includes 1 pair of patterned checkered contact lenses, lens case, contact solution and easy to follow instructions.
LOL! Thanks, nully.
YUK!! Does anyone know of an update to this story?:
Washington Post:
A 'Raccoon Update' from the White House By Michael D. Shear February 9, 2009
The raccoons are still at large! White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today that there have been no masked critters caught on the White House lawn today. [snip]
Here's a picture of Rebecca - the first coon to actually live in the White House:
Pictured above is First Lady Grace Coolidge with her pet raccoon Rebecca at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 18, 1927
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