Boy buried in sand becomes hookworm feast
Sharks will tear open your flesh. Jellyfish will double you over in pain. And now, another villain has joined the list of threats at the beach.
Beware of hookworms lurking in the sand.
A teenager from Memphis was attacked by hookworms after his friends buried him in the sand at Pompano Beach, his mother says.
Kelli Dumas, a Memphis dentist, said she’s confident her son Michael got the worms on the beach because he always wore shoes and walked on concrete during the rest of his time in Florida.
At least four others with him contracted
the intestinal parasite, but Michael has the worst case by far, she said.
Dumas shared graphic pictures of her son’s swelling and reddened feet and detailed the cost of his treatment, including a steroid medicine that cost more than $1,300 for six pills. “He is in pain and this is awful,” Dumas wrote on Facebook. “Never be buried in sand or allow your children to be either.”
Rare as it seems, hookworms are plausible at the beach, said Glenn Morris, who directs the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute.
“Basically, you would have to get contamination of the sand from fecal material,” Morris said. “It can happen.”
Beaches could be a risk because they are crowded with people and animals, Morris said. Sanitation on the beaches is vital, he said. Wash your hands and wear shoes if you want to reduce the likelihood of infection.
In 2010, the Miami-Dade Health Department linked an outbreak of hookworm to stray cats living at the beach. At least six cases were confirmed, with a dozen more suspected.
Hookworms used to be fairly common in the U.S., but improvements in living conditions have greatly reduced the number of infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are transmitted through the feces of an infected person. Infections typically spread when people walk barefoot on a contaminated site, such as soil or a field, according to the CDC.
Some patients with hookworms experience abdominal pain, especially those infected for the first time, the CDC said. Symptoms in severe cases include diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss. The most serious problem from hookworm infection is blood loss that leads to anemia. The infection is treatable with medicine.
Pompano Beach spokeswoman Sandra King said the city hasn’t been notified of the hookworm incident or any hookworm outbreak. “We haven’t heard from anyone, not any resident, not the health department,” she said. The Florida Department of Health is investigating, spokeswoman Candy Sims said.
Michael Dumas, 17, was in South Florida from June 16 to 23 as part of a mission trip sponsored by his church, the Church of Christ at White Station in Memphis. The teens painted picnic tables, packed boxes of food and attended Vacation Bible School.
“These kids were not on vacation. They worked,” Kelli Dumas said.
On Thursday, more than a month after Michael went to the beach, Dumas said her son has not yet recovered. “He is not doing well,” she said. “There are open gaping wounds on his feet and his inner and outer calves. He can’t go to football practice. He can’t wear shoes.”