Need help hunting down a parasitic worm contracted in Senegal.

February 4, 2009 4:06 PM

What type of parasitic worm (with larvae) can be contracted in Senegal that would make you feel lethargic, nervous, and have a loss of apetite?

My boyfriend was in Senegal in November 2008 for about 2 weeks. Recently, he started feeling lethargic, nervous, and a major loss of appetite. He went and saw a doctor about these symptoms. The doctor said he has some type of parasitic worm, but he doesn't know what type of worm it is. All we know is it's a worm with larvae. I did some research, but all I could find was the Guinea Worm Disease. However, people don't feel symptoms for a year.

We're still waiting for more tests, it's just taking a long time to figure this out. He hasn't been able to see a tropical disease specialist yet, due to his health insurance coverage.

In the meantime...

Does anyone know what type of parasitic worms could be found in the region? Has anyone had similar experiences?

posted by zonkers to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

I've linked to it before, but Where There Is No Doctor (link to free pdf download) has a really good parasite section, including treatment guidelines. Read it to learn what is going on, and to calm down because this is routine and not usually a big deal as long as you get it taken care of.

Basically, there's a bunch of possibilities -- all of the ascaris variants are common; Wikipedia claims that 40 million Americans have pinworm infections; hookworm is incredibly common in developing countries; etc.

You don't figure this out by guessing on the internet, but honestly the doctors don't often spend a lot of time worrying about exactly which worms you might have, either -- generally, if you probably or definitely have worms, you are given wide-spectrum anti-worming drug like Mebendazole, repeated as necessary to kill parasites at different life stages, assuming that it will likely kill what you have. But as always, listen to a competent medical specialist before listening to random people on the internet. (The caveat, though, is that few doctors in the developed world see many heavy worm infestations very often, so getting a doctor to take this seriously can be a chore.)

Lastly, if you have been in close physical contact with him, and maybe your boyfriend sometimes does the cooking, and maybe once in a great while forgets to wash his hands after defecating, or maybe the itching of the worms means he scratches his butthole in his sleep without knowing it, there is a greater than zero chance that you have ingested some worm eggs from him. Many doctors will (if you ask) give both of you a worming dose, or you could go get a stool sample checked out if you are worried about this and have the money for the lab fees.
posted by Forktine at 4:32 PM on February 4, 2009

Did he do any activities in or around lakes or rivers? If so, it could be bilharzia. (If it is, it's easily treatable. When i had it, I took a few pills, felt horrible for 36 hours, and then was bilharzia-free. But if it goes untreated for too long, it can cause kidney damage.)

(FYI, the symptoms listed on that wikipedia page represent a really advanced case. When i had it, I just felt really tired and flu-ish.)
posted by Kololo at 5:45 PM on February 4, 2009

Was he taking mefloquine (larium) as a malaria prophylactic? If so, tell the doctor, as it can cause some strange nervous-system side effects in some people. There is loads of information about bad mefloquine reactions online (though don't let it panic you; some people have very bad reactions but it doesn't sound like this applies to him).
posted by 8k at 8:47 AM on February 14, 2009