Feeling defenseless
in the jungle against invading critters, riding the waves of fear in the
Peruvian Amazon.
Insects & Arachnids:
When the sun goes down,
headlamps are the only thing safely getting you from point A to point B in a
jungle village. Whether you are going
from the kitchen to the sleeping quarters or from your hammock to the bathroom. Nothing prepares you for the possible critters
that you will encounter, some of which are not just dangerous, but deadly. Because most of the villages have cement
sidewalks, those are the safest thing to follow, but because they retain the
heat, at night critters are attracted to them.
On one occasion, quickly
unzipping my army hammock (which has the mosquito netting on top) a couple of
friends and I slipped on our shoes and headed toward the bathroom. Already fearful that every noise was an
animal about to kill us, we stumbled upon nothing more than a tarantula the
size of my head!
Yes a tarantula, a black
tarantula which are very dangerous due to their potent venom.
The friends I was with were
girls, so the inevitable scream came next.
It was like they were in a horror film.
Of course the rest of the guys came out then, thinking someone was
dying, but finding out everyone was safe,
we just started taking pictures of it.
Tarantula’s are scary, but
they are almost as scared of you as you are of them, so don’t think that they
are going to attack you when you least expect it. They are more interested in large insects,
birds, and small mammals than in humans.
There are other tropical
spiders that you should be worried about.
The rule of thumb is the smaller and the more colorful they are, the
more poisonous they are. Don’t go
putting your hands in places that you cant see, especially in places like
thached roofing of houses and boats, that is where they like to hide
particularly in the day time.
Other insects to worry about
are catepillars, mosquitoes, flies, ticks, beetles, ants, and fleas. Of course you will see tons of insects
because 90% of the Amazonian jungle animals are insects. A single square mile of rainforest is often
home to more than 50,000 insect species.
Caterpillars shouldn’t be touched because many of them can bite and sting, and those with pointy spikes
on their backs may inject poison. Many
of the bright-colored beetles are full of poison and by native tribes are often
ground up and used to tip arrows and spears.
The ground is ruled by ants like fire ants and army ants which can sting
or bite through the skin. Army ants are
common in tropical environments and are aggressive and predatory insects which
capture insects, spiders, and small vertebrates, and differ from other ants
because they build living nests with their bodies called bivouacs in trees and
burrows. The air is ruled by mosquitoes
and flies which are common disease vectors.
Mosquitoes especially the Aedes
egypti mosquito are known to transmit malaria, dengue fever, and yellow
fever. Some flies such as sand flies transmit
Leishmaniasis, Oroya fever, and Pappataci fever. Some of the most common insects are:
Rhino beetle, Leaf-cutter
ant, Metallic gold riondinidae, Paper wasps, Orange-striped paracaidas, Black
butterfly, Deep red millipede, Copper grasshopper, Green mantid, Black beetle,
Brachydiplax dragonfly, Giant tiger centipede, Leaf bugs, Pill millipede ball,
Comet moth, Long horned grasshoppers, Giraffe necked weevil, Iguaze butterfly, Praying
mantis, Dung beetle, Brown cicada, Huntsman spiders, Brown cicada, Heliconius
sara butterfly, Honey bee, Red spider, Ceiba borer beetle, Stick insects, Owl
butterfly, Fire ants, Black-winged heliconius, Stag beetles, Army ants,
Orange-striped paracaidas, Fire beast caterpillar, Tropical termite, Crooked jaw
termite, Bumble bees, Hornet, Scoliidae wasps, Common wasps, Shield bug, Giant
tiger centipede, Paper wasps, Comet moths
As you can see by the sheer
numbers of jungle insects, it is vitally important to use bug spray –
especially that which is high in DEET.
Reptiles and Amphibians:
Tropical rainforests are home
to a huge diversity of reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, and
crocodiles) and amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and worm-like
caecilians). There are more than 1,000
species of frogs in the Amazon Basin often found in trees rather than in bodies
of water. Of course reptiles and
amphibians are possible vectors of disease, dendrobatids are of the greatest
concern.
Dendrobatids are the most
notorious of the rainforest amphibians which are tiny, but brilliantly colored
poison dart frogs. These striking but
slow-moving frogs secrete powerful toxins from glands on their backs and use
their color to advertise their toxic composition to potential predators. You should not touch them. Tribes in the jungle dip blowgun darts in the
poison as the poison is full of powerful cardiotoxic and neurotoxic steroidal
alkaloids. A lethal dose is the
equivalent to two grains of ordinary table salt. It is one of the deadliest toxins, 15 times
more potent than curare, and ten times more potent than tetrodotoxin from the
puffer fish.
Made famous around the world
by the film of the same name, the anaconda snake is also known as the water
boa. The snake lives in water and swamps
surrounding the Amazon and is nocturnal. Be careful though, boas are the largest type
of snake there is and anaconda are the largest type of boa there is! Anacondas
are very common to be seen, and they are very scary because they are so big,
they often eat animals that roam around jungle villages.
Dogs, Cats & Bats:
In Peru, wild dogs can be
found almost everywhere. They are a
direct cause of zoonotic transmission of many diseases from Cryptosporidosis to
helminth infections. You really shouldn’t
pet them and especially shouldn’t feed them because then they wont leave you
alone. Dogs, cats, and bats are also
huge sources of rabies in the jungle.
One thing to be weary of is that bats love to hide in the toilets so its
best to make some noise before going in, especially when the bathroom is
outside. There are 950 different species
of bats in the Amazon, so you"d best like them! The jungle is home to Amazonian vampire bats which
are the only true vampire bat in the world.
Wild cats like the Ocelot and
Jaguars are also sources of disease.
Intestinal diseases commonly infect cats and when they urinate in rivers
where water is collected for bathing and drinking, cysts and ova are often
transmitted to humans. Of course this is
one of the more rare problems. If not a
source of disease, wild cats are nocternal and territorial animals to be
feared. Ocelots are ‘dwarf leopards’
that hunt a variety of small mammals.
The free range chickens in villages are often a possible food source for
them. The Amazon Basin contains the
largest population of jaguars worldwide.
The jaguar is the King of the Amazonian food chain - and when you bear
in mind some of its competition, that"s some claim to fame! You"re best chances of seeing a jaguar
are if you are in a forest area, near a stream, close to nightfall - but be
very careful as this is also the time the jaguar is looking for prey.
River-borne Animals:
Phirranas, freshwater
stingrays, leeches, manatee, caiman, bull shark, aripima, arowana, candiru, and
electric eel.
Movies such as James Bond
made in the 1970s and 1980s have made the piranha a worldwide phenomenon. But, did you know that there are 20 different
species of the piranha in the Amazon and nearly all of them are vegetarian? In fact, the only species of piranha that can
strip flesh of an animal in double quick time are the red-bellied piranha.
Although not largely a threat
to humans, the manatee is also known as the water ox - and is the Amazon"s
largest marine mammal. A fully grown
adult manatee will weigh over a thousand pounds and measure over nine feet
long! Now considered an endangered
species, the manatee"s closest living relative is the elephant.
Caiman are related to alligators
and crocadiles and inhabit the Amazon. Bull sharks have been seen all the way in
waters surrounding Iquitos and are threats to humans. Aripima or Paiche are one of the largest
fresh water fish in the world, reportedly with a maximum length of 3 metres
(9.8 ft) and weight up to 200 kilograms (440 lb), which can topple boats
causing a threat to human life. Arowana
are also fish that are large predators similar to the paiche.
Candiru are a number of general
parasitic, fresh water catfish in the family Trichomycteridae; all are native
to the Amazon River. The strongly
electric electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) and more than 100 species of
weakly electric fishes Gymnotiformes also inhabit the Amazon Basin. River stingrays have a venomous caudal sting,
and are one of the most feared freshwater fishes in the Neotropical region,
sometimes more feared than piranhas and electric eels. However, they are not dangerous unless stepped
on or otherwise threatened.
The Amazon is also home to
the larges leeches in the world. The
giant Amazonian leech can grow up to 17.72 inches (450 millimeters) long and
3.93 inches (100 millimeters) wide.
There are also leeches called ‘T Rex’ which have a habit of invading an
orifice and feeding on mucous membranes.
Described in a paper published April 14 in PLoS ONE, the first specimen
was found by doctors in 1997 in the nose of a 6-year-old boy in San Martin,
Peru. He had complained of headaches. Another
specimen was taken that year from a 16-month-old boy in Ayacucho, Peru. A
decade later, a third T. rex was taken from the nose of a 9-year-old Peruvian
girl who felt a “sliding” sensation in her nose. All had bathed frequently in
Amazonian streams.
Three years ago I went to the Amazon Rainforest with a
medical aid team, providing immediate relief for physical needs of the people,
but saw a much larger problem: short term solutions aren’t sustainable fixes
for largely long term problems. Anti-parasitic
medications are given out to children with bellies swollen full of worms, but I
knew in a few short months of drinking river water after the medication ran
out, the parasite infestation would be back.
Because of this burden on my heart, the next year I co-led a
trip with a nursing friend of mine focusing on teaching. We created a curriculum that incorporated
easy to understand material, props, microscopes, and hands on examples. Doing it this way made it more fun for
children and also not too complex for adults, most of which don’t even have an
elementary school education. We did
teach a couple complex things such as how to make soap using palm branches and
animal fat, and disease transmission. 
This was difficult because their baseline understanding was
very minimal, but we are hopeful that we made a long-term difference. Changing one’s perceptions and beliefs are
difficult and take a long time to implement.
It is going to require more than a single teaching session. It is going to require a long term
educational process that should originate on a governmental level.
I am returning to Peru with a medical volunteer team this
summer and decided that would be an ideal time to incorporate a parasite
research project. Because I have seen
parasites as an issue, I wanted to investigate further by determining the
extent of the problem numerically and statistically. In order to do this I am taking a two pronged
approach. The fist approach involves a
medication inventory of anti-parasitic medications prior to the trip and
afterward, in order to determine how much was given out to the patients. The second approach is to utilize a
demographic, medical history, treatment and risk factor assessment survey
during the triage station of the clinics.
This will allow me to get a better understanding of the depth of the
issue, as well as allow for the possible future development of more focused,
sustainable interventions.
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