If there’s any typos in this article, you’ll have to forgive me – my hands are quite literally shaking as I write this.
There’s a myriad of things you can catch whilst in Bali – Bali Belly, syphilis, 20 years in Kerobokan prison – but we’re not entirely sure how many travel insurance companies have this specified in their policies.
21 year-old Western Australian chap Dylan Thomas apparently has the mother of all travel ailment stories under his belt – or in his stomach, as it were. Waking up one morning in the tropical island paradise to find a single red line running from his belly button up towards his chest, Thomas sought out medical treatment who initially passed it off as a bad reaction to an insect bite and prescribed him some topical antihistamine cream.
Post by Dylan Thomas.
But when the cream didn’t work and the line began to burn and form blisters, Thomas dutifully headed straight back to the hospital where upon closer inspection the real source of the problem was discovered.
It turns out that – SOMETHING – quite spider-like in appearance had apparently burrowed its way into his stomach via his navel…
*retches*
…through a recent scar following an appendectomy…
*retches again*
…and had spent three days travelling up torso towards his sternum.
Doctors surgically removed the obvious onset of the invasion of the body snatchers, which thankfully at that point was dead. The offending critter was apparently “no bigger than a match head” and was sent to an arachnologist for identification.
Post by Dylan Thomas.
Whilst Thomas himself has been claiming it was a tropical spider (and with it the veritable bag of Spider-Man he can now legitimately crack) experts are a little sceptical as to the true arachnid origins of the burrowing beast.
There are no known spiders that have the need or ability to burrow under human skin, and people who know a thing or two about this sort of stuff have suggested that the most likely culprit was a parasitic arachnid (a mite) or a parasitic insect (a tick).
But still, I think I speak for everyone when I state a very firm and hearty FUCK. THAT.
Photo: Dylan Thomas via Facebook.
