(Malaria Boy livin' large in France)It turns out that Kyle brought back more from our summer trip to Honduras than some local crafts. How about a liver full of parasites?
He had been back in the US for two months before he started to come down with any signs of the disease : low grade fevers and overall exhaustion. At the time he was studying for his preliminary exams for his doctorate and attributed his waning phyical condition to mental stress. He was wrong.
In France, instead of attending the conference in Exercise Immunology, he spent 1 day in the emergency room, and 2 in the center for tropical diseases. Kyle has yet to admit it, but I think he learned more and had a better time at the hospital than he would of at the conference.
I recently caught up with Kyle at his 5-room rental chateau in Lafayette, Indiana:
Touron Talk(TT): How was the fine, French cuisine?
Malaria Boy(MB): Uhh, not very good.
(TT NOTE: I think I speak for all of us when I say I am glad that infirmed Frenchmen suffer like the rest of us.)
TT: I hear that French women don't get fat...how about the nurses (wink...wink)?
MB: I guess they weren't.
TT: Were they good looking?
MB: Not really.
TT: Did they have moustaches.
MB: ???
(TT NOTE: From this point on the interviewee largely ignored my progressively low browish questions. The interview concluded with a ground breaking discovery.)
TT: How was the Jello?
MB: There was none?
TT: ????
The life expectancy in France is 1.6 years longer than ours in the United States. Obviously, the consumption of Jello in our hospitals is leading to our shorter lives.
Kyle is doing fine, but is still a little tired. Dr's expect him to make a full recovery, although the rare type of malaria that he contracted may flare up occasionally for the next few years. What better excuse is there to miss work? Sorry, boss. Malaria flaring up again.
Both of us took the anti-malarial medication Chloroquine before, during, and after our adventures in Honduras. This was the recommended medication for the region we visited, but apparenlty not 100% foolproof. Visit www.cdc.gov to learn what anti-malaria medication to take on your next trip.
4 comments:
I'm much better now.
I took Lariam for malaria prevention when I was in Africa this summer.
But the girl I was with took Malarone which made her nauseaous so she stopped taking it. So far it's been a month and she feel fine, but hmmmm....she got bit a lot more than me, and we WERE in a malaria zone.
So now you're saying she could possibly have an excuse off work? Drat.
I'm glad about the absence of Jello in French hospitals. The jello in hospitals here is toxic and will dye your fingers orange.
quit playin' with yer food.............
-bt
On a more serious note, Kels....and Malaria Boy.....my brother Jim, your another second cousin, has been suffering from what seems a permanent infestation of what is known as "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". While many things concerning CFS are still considered speculative, he spent some time backpacking europe, the middle east, and northern africa in the late 1970's....had his brother Jack with him......but since 1994 has been saddled with CFS and is medically retired as a result. I don't happen to have him handy at the moment though we see each other online through icq almost daily, he mentioned somehting called "Epstein-Barr" which has a connection...though once again, speculative....with CFS and for some reason "leptospirosis" jumps to my mind but Jim is currently nodding off so I can't throw it past him at the moment. Don't know what all this has to do with Kyle's unfortunate encounter but truly, Montezuma's Revenge or whatever, I hope your recovery is eventually complete.-bt
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