Man on Trip to Amazon Returns With Flesh Eating Parasite
Adam Spencer took his girlfriend on an exotic trip touring South America during which he proposed. The couple was excited about starting a new life together, but Spencer would soon be fighting for his life.
Spencer and his girlfriend Shalynn Pack were underway on a 6-month trip in South America when they got engaged at the top of the Inca Trail on Machu Picchu in Peru, according to Daily Mail.
After several weeks hiking and bird watching in the Amazon, Spencer noticed a spot on his face as they crossed the Bolivian salt flats.
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"It was almost hardened, a scab," Spencer said. He dismissed the tiny growth as nothing major.
However, as the days passed, the scab grew in size, and it also turned red while puss stared to leak from the growth.
Spencer went to a local doctor and received antibiotics. The next day Spencer woke up to find the scab had grown in size. "It was the size of a nickel. It was indented into my face and looked raw," Spencer said.
When the couple returned to home to Oregon Spencer went to see his doctor, Stephan Ames of Thurston Medical Clinic.
Ames said: "Adam came in with a wound on the right side of his face. It was firm, but soft and mushy on the inside.
"I was concerned it was a staph infection which can infect multiple organs and could cause him to die," added the physician.
After receiving antibiotics the scab continued to grow and Spencer was concerned. He had begun to experience pain while he ate because lumps began to appear in his throat.
Spencer then went to see a specialist. Dr. William Muth, of the Samaritan Infectious Disease clinic, realized the wound could be caused by a single cell parasite known as Mucocutaneous Leishmaniasis.
The doctor found a swollen lymph node which meant the infection was spreading. It could have possibly spread to his nose and eyes and, if left untreated, could eventually kill him.
Muth put Spencer on a vigorous 21-day treatment that worked and the parasite was slowly removed.
The Daily Mail reported that it was speculated that while the couple was in the Amazon Spencer had been infected with the parasite after being bitten by a small sand-fly.
