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Andy O'Pray wrote: One of the nasties in the jungle is leptospirosis, (Weil's disease).

Over here Andy, some scaremongers have now decided you can get Weils disease from drinking any bottled drink that's sat in your locals cellar for a while because the rats have pi**ed all over the bottles which you are now putting to your lips!

Possible?

Seems like a good excuse to stick to wine to me!

Hi JulesB,

Leptospirosis is excreted from rats urine. I don't know if the organism can live outside of water. I would have to pass you over to Marina to answer that one.

Aye - Andy.

JulesB,

My wife has just advised me, that when she was nursing in the UK that they barrier nursed a patient with Weil's disease, which would indicate that the organism can live outside water. He was a plumber.

We don't need anything else in Canada, we are presently dealing with SARS, BSE and West Nile Virus.

Aye - Andy.

Hello there,

Andy your wife is right. As far as I can remember also, pathogenic strains can surivive for many days outside the animal body in moist surroundings as long as they are not acid. In the UK a few years ago there were cases of canooists getting Weil's disease.

Along side Leptospirosis,another bug that caused Scrub Typhus Its habitat the seams of your clothing,Jaundice and of course everyones nightmare Malaria (tried Paladrin but could never hit the Mozzies).I was once bitten by a Sand fly (Mid East) laid me low with sand fly fever for a few days, scorpion bites allthough not fatal could lay you out for a few days,check your chukka boots Andy?,Hell I'm begining to feel like a Hypochondriac?,steady El Prez no caustic comments.Aye JR

Hell I'm begining to feel like a Hypochondriac

Where would you get one at this time of day? Nurse and I lived in Miri, Sarawak, for 2 years. The jungle environment is hard on a little European frame, the slimmer lads seemed to adapt to the humidity and temperatures better than me. I still have the horrors about snakes in the cockpit, it was our worst nightmare. We had everything else appear, just waited for the day a hooded cobra popped it's head up to ask the time. I think the most dangerous jungle creature I carried was a KaiTai, although some may dispute that.
To give an idea of how big a snake can grow; the Malay Land Defence Force killed a 24' python near our place, and a mate ran over a cobra which had just struck his drivers side car window! Think about it. he was driving a Land Rover, how big was that thing?
The fad illness years ago was Denghi Fever caused by a tiger mossie.

And I thought I had problems with a dose of Crabs.....................Glad I caught'em while they were young !

Hi its Doc with a few comments on snake bits etc.............
1st off we advised the guys before deployment that if anyone got bitten, the rest of his section shouldnt chase after the offending article, because it usually resulted in lots more bites as bootnecks attempted to catch the snake. Just get a visual ID and then attend to the casaualty.
Yes there are antidotes for most things but far too much for a medic to carry in the field (not liking heavy bergens), the treatment is as any first aid, and then for anaphyactic shock, usually adrenaline giving intramuscularly. The wound is not sucked on as in movies, but should be kept clean and fresh as they can go septic. the only difference is the injured limb is not raised as a normal injury but lowered to minimise bloodflow to the rest of the body (which in reality does f@#k all really), Piriton injections also work, but not morphine as if they are in shock then this can further lower heart rate and breathing rate. Fluids will be a priority usually IV if possible.
I would then arrange an immediate casevac to a RAP, and hope for the best. Most bites will leave the casualty in shock from the unknown, as oppossed to the actual poison.
Then if you have captured the snake or spider, send it with the casualty, (once slotted of course) so the Doctors can get the appropriate antidote.
On the subject of things living inside people such as worms or maggots, I actualy had a spider infest a wound on my leg and lay eggs which died and only on return to UK did they get lanced out. Lesson learned.......however small a cut or wound get the Doc to check it out, and keep it well covered so nothing creepy sinks its fangs into you when you get your head down.
Also before you deploy it may be worth checking your med documents to make sure you are in date for the neccesary jabs etc.
another top tip (and sorry if this seems I'm teaching granny to suck eggs) shake out boots and sleeping bags before you get into them if you are lucky enough to ever get your boots off or your sleeping bag out of your bergen, so anything nasty falls out, preferably over the OCs head!!!!! (Joke sir!)
Hope it helps, but if it alls goes pear shaped then I said sod all
The Doc

Thanks everyone,

This has been an enjoyable bedtime read.
I am feeling quite itchy all over now.
I am going to shake down my duvet before I sleep tonight !

Before joining the Corps I was a miner ,and one of the great dreads was the catch Wiels disease.One of the taboos underground was to throw away unwanted food and/or its wrapping as this attracted rats.They would piss on the wrapping and an "uneducated" young miner would have a dump,wipe his nethers with discarded paper and possibly contract Wiels disease.Although I never knew of anyone getting it, the potential was ,and is,always there.The moral of the story is......always have a shufty before you....

Aye Veloman

Leptospirosis is a threat to construction workers in UK and allso to demolition workers. All construction sites with even the slightest risk give out an "idiot`s guide" describing the symptoms and stressing the need for early treatment. You must tell the doc you may have been exposed and they will then do the test. If you don`t tell them, they will treat the symptoms, which looks like flu. In rare cases it is fatal. Anyone who plays in inland waterways is at risk and should be aware, wind surfers, canoo-ists, dinghy sailors etc. Heard about a guy who contracted it from his local chinese, the rats were pissing on sacks of rice
Ref Oz and all it`s nasties, the latest score in me garage is, Redbacks 0 Hackedoff 8. Last year, Oz had nine of the worlds top ten of deadly venomous creatures. As Derek said "that was before I got here" Number one being the Box Jelly fish. Survivors, and there aren`t many, rate the pain on a scale of one to ten, as about seventeen. They`ve just discovered another type of Jelly fish even more lethal so it`s now "the top ten most venomous creatures" live in Oz. There are more deadly sharks in Australian waters than anywhere else on the planet, particularly to the West, South and East of the continent. There are no sharks to the North, The Crocs have eaten them all
To be honest, I`m aware of sharks when diving and apart from a couple of times, it doesn`t bother me. I regard any encounters as fortunate, so do most divers. More people die from being struck on the head by cocoa-nuts worldwide, than from shark attack. For all the snakes, spiders etc etc, the creature that kills most Australians as a result of it`s sting is the humble honey bee. The same one you have in UKers.
Y`all take care out in your garden this summer,
Aye,

went to two years back, and I have to say it’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever been to, I fell in love with the place... I know the most dangerous creatures in the world reside there, but other than a brown snake by the side of the road (dead of course) the only spiders snakes jelly fish sharks and croc's I saw were in the zoo's didn’t see any ozzy beach babes either maybe I was going to the wrong beaches though, there is quite a few


lew

Hi Harry,

Have there been any encounters of the Africanised Bees (i.e Killer Bees) in Australia ? I heard that these bees have been found to be moving towards the Southern part of the US (i.e Southern Texas) from South America and they closely resemble the domestic honey bee.

lew, you DEFINATELY went to the wrong beaches mate
Marina, not as far as I have heard.
Like any other "risky" pursuit, forewarned is forarmed. Make some noise as you walk through the bush and the snakes will off ski. They want an easy life, too Big boomers with a hard on, are more dangerous than African lions, so don`t look like you are going to run off with Skippy(I found this out the hard way ) Before moving something that`s been lying in my garage, I look for signs of Redbacks. I don`t go barefoot on the beach, don`t touch any mollusc, fish or octopus . If I see a shark, and I mean one with a "reputation", I try not to look like a fish in distress. Stay still or drop to the bottom, or better yet get behind a fat bastard
Aye,

HH, Not the old make plenty of noise and the creatures will go away advice. That is the advice they give you here when walking through grizzly bear country. From the stories that I have heard , that let's the bears know that you are coming, so they lay in ambush for you.

Aye - Andy.