Alberta woman on jungle trek in Peru died from caterpillar poisoning, doctors announce

[Judi Lynn]

Alberta woman on jungle trek in Peru died from caterpillar poisoning, doctors announce
HELEN BRANSWELL

THE CANADIAN PRESS

July 14, 2008 at 4:38 PM EDT

TORONTO — It was a freak encounter with tragic consequences.

A Canadian woman who had travelled to South America last year died 10 days after stepping, barefoot, on venomous caterpillars, a team of Edmonton doctors reported Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Her case should be a cautionary tale for people embarking on exotic trips to far-flung places, her doctors and others suggest.

“Obviously the more exotic we get in where we travel, the more opportunities there are that we're going to interface with bizarre things,” said Dr. Kevin Kain, a Toronto-based travel and tropical medicine expert who did not treat the woman but was asked to comment on the report.

“There are some bad things out there. They're rare, but they're bad.”

The woman, who was in northeastern Peru on an organized jungle trek, accidentally stepped on five caterpillars of the Lonomia genus, which secrete a toxin that causes hemorrhaging in humans.

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080714.wcaterpiller0714/BNStory/National/home



Lonomia genus Brazil

Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates Affecting Military Operations:
Identification, Biology, Symptoms, Treatment
Version 2.0, 31 July 2006

http://www.afpmb.org/pubs/Field_Guide/field_guide.htm

[tekisui]

1. Note to self: Where shoes in Peru.

[independentpiney]

2. After you find out 'where shoes in Peru'

You'll probably want to put them on and wear them.
(reminds me of the 'werewolf?- there wolf' bit from Young Frankenstein)

[tekisui]

3. Next note to self: Where caterpillar in Peru.

My pre-coffee posts are notoriously misspelled. :P