Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: idn on 16/08/2008 00:13:11
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hello everyone, this is my first post. :)
in my childhood (I was 9, maybe 10) I got struck by some kind of infection (I suppose). recently, I've been wondering what exactly it was, maybe someone here will prove more helpful than google and satisfy my curiosity. the setting was as follows:
I was on a vacation in a little village in Central-Eastern Europe. I was learning to swim (yeah, I know, pretty late) in a not-so-clean river (could be a factor or not, I swam there many times before and after that), I came home, and in a few hours I was having a rash on my stomach and my temperature hit 42 degrees Celsius. soon after I was hallucinating (a full-blown delirium, it was a kind of a fantasy realm with clouds everywhere, which responded to me touching and grasping them by growing "spikes"). Then, after a few hours of high, I fell asleep and woke up the following morning with 36,6 degrees Celsius and not a trace of rash. I took nothing and didn't see a doctor, so diagnosis can only be based on my recollection and, as I was the sole witness of the whole thing aside from my grandfather who took the temperature, gave me some herbal medicine and put me to bed (old people and their old methods ;), it might not be accurate.
I suspect cyanobacteria, but i didn't find any evidence that they can rise the body temperature that high and then disappear without a trace. it could have been atropine poisoning, but i don't remember eating any part of any plant that might've contained it. It shouldn't be meningitis or a septic shock either, because none of them end abruptly too and I doubt that without treatment I'd be fine anyway.
I guess the delirium was caused directly by the fever, so it leaves just it and the rash. I've been searching the web, but there's little to no data about the duration any of the suspected infections, so I figured that maybe someone who knows better would, well, know better. ;)
if any of you has any idea, please do share.
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Virus (http://dermnetnz.org/viral/viral-exanthem.html) is a possible cause of your historic rash.
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in my childhood (I was 9, maybe 10) I got struck by some kind of infection (I suppose). recently, I've been wondering what exactly it was, maybe someone here will prove more helpful than google and satisfy my curiosity. the setting was as follows:
I was on a vacation in a little village in Central-Eastern Europe. I was learning to swim (yeah, I know, pretty late)
Pretty late? The first time I was able to swim, I was already 15, and I wasn't the last one among my peers.
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The sudden onset, short duration, and extreme symptoms lead me to wonder whether this illness could have been caused by acute exposure to a toxin, rather than microorganisms.
Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) grows wild in many parts of Europe. The tropane alkaloids it contains are known to cause, among other symptoms: vivid hallucinations, delirium, hyperthermia (especially in children), and rashes... ("red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat, mad as a hatter and hot as a hare")
Sound familiar?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Toxicity
Do you or your grandfather recall whether your pupils were dilated (it would not have been subtle). Before the hallucinations set in, was your vision blurry and eyes sensitive to light? Do you recall your heart racing, or losing the ability to walk straight, or stay balanced? Had you eaten "wild blueberries" while on your swimming adventure?
If, indeed, this is the explanation, you are very lucky. The dosage required for causing hallucinations is not much smaller than the fatal dose, especially for children.
EDIT: I see now that atropine poisoning was mentioned in the original post as a possibility...