Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

The thing about losing 30 pounds on an African diet is that, even though getting a power-up from an epic journey is cool, and all your family and friends back home get to see the sudden change in you since the last times they saw you, you haven't really learned anything about healthy living at all. I don't know how to maintain this state, so I know all that weight's coming back. In Katimavik, I had the same post-program prime, and in that program, I actually did learn about healthy living, but I still regressed. Not much better chance now...

Yesterday I got an email from CWY, saying that I may have Cutaneous Leishmaniasis. That's a single cell parasite transmitted through sand fly bites that causes boils. It's rare, but apparently a CWY participant that just got back from Mali has contracted it, and tipped off CWY about it, so they're informing us. They said that if we have any slow-healing wounds from Africa, we should consult a doctor. Well, guess what I have?

Plus, I know a Canadian participant who had a wound similar to this one that I have. He might have got it checked, and alerted CWY with the results. This wound... It's like a sore on my ankle. I had a lot of wounds in Mali, so it didn't seem noteworthy. It's only notable feature, and the reason I'm saying it was similar to someone else's, is that it... attracted bugs. My other wounds didn't do that.

But, in Mali, so many weird things happen to your body that, unless it's causing you immediate and severe discomfort, you generally don't worry about it.

Now, however, this bug-attracting wound is also notable for it's extremely slow healing. Also, I never remembered how I got it in the first place.

Looking at images of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, I actually think I have it. The images correlate with what I have on my ankle. I've got another one, too, on the opposite side of the same ankle. I remember I got that one in Canada, and I thought it was from wearing shoes (my feet are used to sandals... I think I have weak feet. They blistered when I first started wearing sandals, too). I can't tell if this one attracts bugs or not, because there aren't enough bugs at this time of year in Canada.

Apparently it's really easily treated with antibiotics, though, so there's that.