Dracunculiasis

June 14, 2004 7:43 AM

A worm that builds a home inside the human body, lives there happily until breeding time, then begins a journey to emerge from the skin and find a body of water to lay its eggs in. Although this may very well be a pleasant journey for the worm, for the human, it's an excrutiating one. And so we begin The Tale of the Guinea Worm.
posted by Space Coyote (9 comments total)

Not Safe For Lunch pictures ahead...
posted by PenDevil at 7:47 AM on June 14, 2004

Time to put the Culligan Man on my speed dial.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:51 AM on June 14, 2004

rottenfilter!
posted by samelborp at 7:56 AM on June 14, 2004

Same site as the Harlequin Baby.
posted by brownpau at 8:09 AM on June 14, 2004

OMG!

*barf*
posted by Quartermass at 8:17 AM on June 14, 2004

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
The Sick Rose Democracy

"O Rose Democracy, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy."
posted by troutfishing at 8:25 AM on June 14, 2004

BTW, this is probably the origin of the the staff of Asclepius as the symbol for medical professionals (not to be confused with the caduceus).
posted by piskycritter at 9:21 AM on June 14, 2004

That was just a warm-up. On the same site I just came across the Dermoid Cyst.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:38 AM on June 14, 2004

Too focused on gross-out pictures in my opinion. Highlighting the links might've been more instructive.
The eradication of dracunculiasis is one of Jimmy Carter's ongoing projects, but things like the ongoing violence in Sudan tend to lead to even greater outbreaks of this and other parasitic diseases.

Worms eating through your skin. Ugh.
posted by tyro urge at 9:46 AM on June 14, 2004