I have a nightmare story that happened to me because I went in and out of my Holiday Inn Motel room bare footed several years ago and picked up a hook worm/heart worm on my feet then slid into bed and it got on the sheet and then burrowed into my back. Because I had just finished a long course of antibiotics (uselessly, as it turned out since I had a viral cold then), the worm burrowed around under my skin without my immune system fighting back until it was on my side and I was scratching the welt like crazy. The liquid methotrexate dosage I was written by an ER Physician was way beyond correct dosage and nearly killed me. If I had not been a pharmaceutical rep and had my own copy of the PDR to consult on dosage, I might have continued taking the medicine until I was too far gone to save. As it was, I was delirious and hallucinating when I finally thought to read the PDR. Another ER physician later removed the hook worm by freezing spray and collecting it on a surgical sponge when it burrowed out to escape the cold. I then had two weeks of sickening meds to kill any possible eggs that might have been 'left behind'. Happened three decades ago but I'll bet the procedures are the same even today for such a fluke.
OMG, thanks for the tip, I will NEVER forget it. These things are all sooooo strange but they do happen. How was it determined what it was? And how did you ever think back on where you picked it up?
Another ER physician later removed the hook worm by freezing spray and collecting it on a surgical sponge when it burrowed out to escape the cold.
>picked up a hook worm/heart worm on my feet<
You picked up a hookworm or a whipworm like this, not a heartworm. Heartworms have a totally different life cycle, and must be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito.