Unseen Dangers of the Tropics

Living here, you learn to live with security bars, lock up everything, be particular where you park your car and who you befriend. It's a melting pot of nationalities here and the crime flourishes. One of the biggest dangers is the one you will never see, the parasites. I've blogged about this before (here are a few) when I saw a guy that had "Chagas" on Dr. House and he was asked if he had visited COSTA RICA or another tropic place recently. Here's another one of my post about Take Your Pills. I bought mine today because I can't remember the last time I took them. They are a little different now.

Well, I have a new one for you that I saw on the Discovery Channel!
Trypanosome Parasite.
"Trypanosomes are a group of kinetoplastid protozoa distinguished by having only a single flagellum. All members are exclusively parasitic, found primarily in insects."

Check it out, it's known as the Sleeping Disease in Africa.
If you Google parasites, it will definitely cause you to pause and consider...
what's REALLY out there!!

Chagas

Ever had one of those days when if it's not one thing, it's ten others?
We have had some hard rain lately and if you live here, you know what that can bring... no electric, no Internet, no water, ...the list goes on. It's a great opportunity to work on "the coping skills". All in all, I fared well. I know some didn't. Someone told me almost 20 inches of rain fell in less than three days. Some strong winds, too. Spooky weather.

Dr. House program was interesting this past Thursday. I had electric so I could watch it. I try not to miss it. It was about this man with Chagas disease. He had lived in Costa Rica a few months while doing missionary work many years earlier.
I had heard of this disease but never researched it. So, I googled Chagas. Surprise, surprise.
On Dr. House, the man unknowingly had been infected with Chagas disease for many years. Besides the condition that was killing him, one of this man's symptoms on Dr. House was he was "unusually nice".

I wonder how many people in Costa Rica might have been bit by the Kissing bug ? Most are exceptionally nice people.
I know, it's only a t. v. show but have you ever heard of Chagas disease? It can go undetected for ten years or more. I learn stuff from Dr. House.

If it's not one thing, it's eleven others.
I wonder if the pills we all take for parasites work for Chagas, too?