[WhiteEagle (OP)]

Hello all,

I'm writing today because I have a situation that appears to be getting out of control. First, some background on the issue.

Four years ago I traveled to Costa Rica for a six week period, eleven days of which were spent deep in the rain forest at a bilogical research station.  On more than one occasion I may have placed one or both of my bare feet on the ground.  My suspicion is that while I was there in Costa Rica I picked up a parasite on my foot.  This is purely conjecture because one thing is certain, which is that I was not aware of any physical changes at the time.

A month or two after arriving home from my photographic safari I noticed that I had a single small pimple on the bottom of my left foot. This pimple had a light colored head, and it was annoyingly itchy on the tissue immediately surrounding the eruption. I don't recall whether the pimple was vented or not.

Several months later I noticed the return of the pimple, and it may have been around this time that I started to vent them when they occured.

This cycle of a single pimple, with symptoms lasting aproximately one to two weeks, and then nothing happening for one to two months until the next cycle, continued for roughly three years. 

During the past twelve months (and especially the past four months) the frequency and number of pimples has sky rocketed.  I see roughly one new pimple on my left foot every day now. I have never found any of these pimples outside of the bottom or sides of my left foot, at least not until today!

Today I found what looks like a similar pimple on my right middle finger.  Needless to say, I have become a little concerned about my condition.

I am getting a referal to a specialist through my doctor, however I am told that the waiting list is roughly six months to get in (I live with the Canadian health care system). 

If there is anyone out there with the appropriate knowledge and experience in tropical parasites, I would greatly appreciate a helping hand.  My main goal is to locate the resources that will allow me to educate myself.  Just a friendly nudge in the right direction, if you know what I mean.

Best Regards,

Bruce

[chris]

Dear Bruce

I am not an expert on tropical diseases, so I have made some enquiries of people who are.

It might help to have some more information about the nature of the skin manifestations such as how big they are ?

If my investigations turn up anything, I'll post it here.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[WhiteEagle (OP)]

Hi Chris,

I have a photograph of one new one, which also shows some old ones around it.  I can email it to you if you like.  Email me at bruce.williams@telusplanet.net and I will send a return with the image attached to it.

Thanks for your quick reply Chris, greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Bruce

[chris]

Hi Bruce

thanks for the pictures - but I msut confess I'm none the wiser !

Why not cut them a bit and post them here on the site ?

In the meantime I'll await the advice of those I've contacted.

There'll be a brief delay in responding whilst I'm in the Cook Islands, NZ and San Diego for 2 weeks ! Sorry, someone's got to do it !

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[WhiteEagle (OP)]

Hi Chris,

I'm feeling really bad for you, having to travel all that way to the Cook Islands.  I'm a certified rescue diver....  are you sure you wouldn't like me to take your place??

One question before you head out on your Safari... how do I post pictures to the web site?

Cheers,

Bruce

Believe in yourself. You gain strength courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face...  you must do that which you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Rosevelt

[mickeyd@asis.com]

quote:Originally posted by chris

Dear Bruce

I am not an expert on tropical diseases, so I have made some enquiries of people who are.

It might help to have some more information about the nature of the skin manifestations such as how big they are ?

If my investigations turn up anything, I'll post it here.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[WhiteEagle (OP)]

Hello Chris,

I thought I would write here to let you know that I found the solution to the foot parasites question.  It turns out that it was some form of fungus that was erradicated by an ointment called 'Lamisil' (1% concentration).  Hopefully this might help others with a similar infliction (like Mickey), so hence my desire to post again.

Best regards,

White Eagle

Believe in yourself. You gain strength courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face...  you must do that which you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Rosevelt

[bezoar]

That's interesting.  I wouldn't think that a fungus would manifest as pustules.

[jlmcclelland]

I had a similar incident in Texas but not really sure if it was a parasite.  I had a cut on the bottom of my foot I got from water skiing a few years back that developed a hard callous and it began to hurt when I walked.  I noticed two pin holes about 2 cm apart, so I removed the extra callous with a sterilized razor blade and then placed a cotton ball soaked in alcohol over the holes and secured it with tape and left it on for a couple of hours.  When I took the cotton ball off I noticed a little red spot where one of the holes was.  

So then I covered the two holes with a piece of duct tape so no air could get to it.  I figured if a small parasite or bug was living in my skin then I would just suffocate him.  Now I have no pain when I walk and the red holes are completely healed up.  When I took the tape off their were two indentations in the tape where it looked like something had sucked them in but they were not the same distance apart as the open holes.  

But it worked, so you might want to try it.

[chris]

Doesn't sound like a course of action that I would like to recommend ! The parasite, if any, would have been extremely small. As such it would have low oxygen demand (on par with the cells in your foot probably) and hence local oxygen availability within the tissue would more than suffice for its needs.

I think it's more likely that you developed the hard callus on your foot because the wound contained a foreign body (a piece of debris).

Under these circumstances the body usually mounts an immune response to 'wall off' the material and occasionally develops a fistula (a small tunnel) to the outside world so that the contents of the inflammed area can discharge (escape). The tiny holes you saw could well have been fistulae. You hastened the process by opening up the wound with a razor blade and, presumably, removing any contaminating debris at the same time.

I'd leave the duct tape as a last resort !

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[zztigger]

i need help i was in peru a year ago and have gone in socks on dirt floors and concrete dusty floors i have tiny blisters on my right foot. the blisters are less than a 1/16 of an inch when they first appear but will become red and irrated and swell to 1/8 to 1/4 of inch if i do not pop them. They are very itchy and painful. I have been on prescription meds for athletes foot but after a year of this and tubes each month nothing has worked nor has it spread to anywhere but my right foot. i do not think my doctor knows what to do when i ask of a tropical parasite she just keeps saying it is athletes foot but it has not gotten any better nor has it effacted my left foot(which all normally happens when i get athletes foot--it spreads to both feet and is cleared up with two weeks of treatment). This is getting to me and i dont know what to ask my doctor to try or who to ask for since i use a veterans hospital here in usa. any help in knowing what to ask or who to see would help.

[potty]

Hi all,

 I think I may have the answer Neem. I have been involved in research on this for somr eight years now and can say without any qualms that there is not
1) There is not a skin fungus that can survive Neem
2) We currently treat scabies (30 hrs), tics (24/30 hrs) and lice (22 hrs) This coupled with the fact that Neem is used as a pesticide and the only resistance we have found is white fly but even that succumes after a while. Neem penitrates the skin very quickly. Be carefull to use Indian Neem oil as this has 3 times the strenth of US or Aussie counterpart.
It does smell foul a little like heavy Garlic onion soup but if added to a bath (2 teaspoons ) with a little bubble bath it should do the trick.
 To top it all Neem is classed safer than honey.
A de-odorised oil can be obtained from the UK if you suffer from nausia.

Potty

[elegantlywasted]

A friend of mine had a similar pimple situation after cuting his foot on a rock in mexico. the pimples eventually went away with some sort of cream, but for over a year after they stopped reaccuring, he felt horrible. Eventually he had a live blood analysis done and it turned out that he had a blood parasite.
It might be something to look into.

[Andrew K Fletcher]

If your up for it, take 3-4 large cloves of garlic crushed, mix with fruit juice, including a fresh lemon squeezed and drink. then take 2 cloves of garlic 3 times a day for 5 days in same way. This should rid the blood, gut, intestines and skin of most infections.

Good luck

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[akshayv]

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[Colin2B]

I have several foot issues (bunions, hammertoe, pronation, and neuroma) and it is hard to find a shoe that I can walk in all day.

Is this relevant to the question on foot parasites or are you just trying to spam with advertising?