Doctors: Woman Died After Stepping on Venomous Caterpillars

[Mugu]

foxnews.com

A Canadian woman died last year after stepping barefoot on several caterpillars, doctors reported in a teaching case published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The 22-year old woman from Alberta died 10 days after stepping on five caterpillars while on a trip to northeastern Peru.

The woman felt immediate pain in her right foot, which spread to her thigh, and later developed a headache. The pain in her leg was worse when she walked on it. The leg pain and headache disappeared within 12 hours so she did not seek treatment while in Peru, the doctors reported in their case study.

After returning to Canada, she was treated at the University of Alberta hospital for extensive bruising on her legs. After searching databases, doctors determined the symptoms may have been caused by venomous caterpillars, which can cause wide-spread internal bleeding in humans.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382451,00.html">Complete article

[XemaSab]

1. That SUCKS... and as my grandma would say "I never heard of such a thing!"

Wow... when they say not to go barefoot in the tropics, they're not kidding! :o

[Adsos Letter]

11. Our grandma's must have been from the same generation...

only mine would have prefaced it with "Well for goodness sakes..."

[NC_Nurse]

2. I'll definitely wears shoes if I ever get to visit Peru.

:scared:

[YOY]

3. Mental Note: Don't step on caterpillars in Peru without proper footware.

n.t.

[NashVegas]

8. Everytime Someone Tells Me How Great the SA Rainforests Are

I can only think of the bizarro-world insects.

[SoCalDem]

19. There ARE some CREEEEEEPY things in jungles

I spent 8+ years as a child, in Panama..Everything bit, stung or would scare you to death :)

[undeterred]

21. I went on an ecotour of the Amazon rainforest

You can't swim in the Amazon because you will get bitten by a Pirrhana. When you get to the smaller rivers, you can't pee because there is a microscopic bug that will swim up your urethra and make your life miserable. So you can swim and not pee, but don't swim alone because the anaconda will come and get you if you're by yourself.

This is the true origin of the admonition never to swim alone.

[Kali]

4. we have some nasty one too

not fatal as far as I know, but buckmoth caterpillars are some painful bastids

[Hawkowl]

5. Darwin award

You REALLY don't want to walk around barefoot in the jungle. All sorts of nasty venomous and parasitic critters waiting to feast on your insides.

[mia]

6. Stinging and venomous caterpillars in Florida too.

Guess I'd better stop walking in the grass bare-footed.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN014

[Warpy]

9. The chiggers and sand spurs should have stopped that.

Never mind the occasional scorpion.

Florida is more interesting than you think it is.

[denese]

15. One got me while cutting roses

Hurt like hell.

[librechik]

7. Paging Dr. House--patient needs a brain biopsy!

yikes--never walk barefoot in the amazon!

[enlightenment]

10. WHY did this young woman feel the need to tromp

on five caterpillars, bare feet or no?

Were they advancing on her? Threatening her? Did she just her jollies from the feel of squishing caterpillars with her bare feet?

good grief.

[depakid]

12. From a NON-FOX link:

The woman, who was in northeastern Peru on an organized jungle trek, accidentally stepped on five caterpillars of the Lonomia genus, which secrete a toxin that causes hemorrhaging in humans.

There are two species of the caterpillars known to cause hemorrhagic syndromes in humans. Found in parts of South America, including Venezuela and Brazil, the insects emit venom through bristles or hairs that cover their bodies and have been blamed for many deaths in the Amazon.

The Canadian woman's story, presented in a section of the journal dedicated to teaching doctors about difficult-to-diagnose cases, concluded with a warning that as adventure travel increases in popularity, doctors will need to develop the tools to rapidly recognize and treat conditions they've never encountered before.

<snip>

Privacy laws prevent Bagshaw from revealing much about the woman. She was 22 and a resident of Alberta. He said she sought care at the hospital late last summer or in the early fall, seven days after returning from Peru and four days after bruising on her legs began to appear.

Early in the course of the investigation, she told the doctors of having stepped on caterpillars and feeling a burning pain in her foot that radiated up to her thigh. She developed a headache. But about 12 hours later, both symptoms subsided and she didn't seek treatment locally.

That probably was unwise in this case and would be in others as well, said Kain, director of travel and tropical medicine at Toronto's University Health Network.

That's because antivenin products made to counteract toxins generated by rare creatures are often only available where those creatures live.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXw7RMSqcUYUuSDaCbQLoDx8I9VA

[YOY]

13. Or maybe it was an accident...like the story says

n/t

[enlightenment]

20. Yes, as the additional linked article depakid linked suggests.

Nothing in the OP linked article, which is what I read when I posted the question, indicates it was an accident. Thus, my question.

[KatyaR]

14. There are VENOMOUS CATEPILLARS?????

YIKES!

And I thought they were such cute little things.

My faith in all living creatures is now destroyed . . . .

[truthisfreedom]

16. Picture:

[soothsayer]

17. did they look like this?

[Cleita]

18. One of the many reasons I avoid tropical rain forests or even tropical

cities. There are just too many venemous and blood sucking critters around. If I ever do have to do so I will be wearing really thick soled boots and a pith helmet dripping with mosquito netting and my can of raid hanging from my belt. I amazed at how many people say, oh you've been to South America. I so want to go to the Amazon. Well, I tell them I'm quite happy hanging around the Andes and the Atacama desert far, far away from the tropical jungles.