Rare parasite turns a woman’s Thailand holiday into an ongoing parasitic nightmare
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A dream family vacation in Thailand has turned into a nightmare for a young woman who has spent the last seven years at the mercy of a strange parasite.
Nursing student Tess Swift, then 20, returned home from vacation in 2015 with a mild stomach ailment that landed her in the hospital a few weeks later.
Since then, Ms Swift has been in and out of the hospital as doctors tried to figure out what was wrong before she got the answers she needed two months ago.
She had contracted a parasite-induced illness called gnathostomiasis that attacked her digestive system, partially paralyzed her digestive tract, and required Ms. Swift to use a feeding tube for the past four years.
Immediate treatment potentially killed the parasite, however Ms Swift, now 28, still lives with intractable effects such as chronic pain and nausea and battles numerous mental illnesses.
Now he shares his roller coaster ordeal as a warning to other travelers about the potentially fatal parasite.
Tess Swift (pictured), was just 20 years old when she first fell ill after returning from a family vacation in Thailand in 2015.
Illness forced Tess (pictured in 2017) to abandon her nursing studies and move home.
‘Somehow he ruined my life. I was only 20 years old when it happened and there’s a lot going on in your life when you’re 20, and there were so many things that I had to miss out on because I was in the hospital or I wasn’t well enough to go… I ended up losing a lot of my friendships because I was so too bad I could never do anything’, he said news.com.au.
Six months after she first felt ill, Swift dropped out of her nursing studies.
As she was regularly in and out of hospital, she was forced to return to her parents near Geelong, nearly two hours southwest of Melbourne.
Doctors spent seven years trying to figure out why Ms. Swift was so seriously ill.
He was diagnosed with everything from irritable bowel syndrome to eating syndrome, but no treatment could help control his symptoms.
In 2018 it was discovered that her digestive tract had partially paralyzed and the first feeding tube was placed directly into her stomach.
The following year, Mrs. Swift was at her worst, spending six and a half weeks in hospital. She was tested for a wide variety of rare diseases as a last resort.
Testing was done in Bangkok and Thailand with the Covid-19 pandemic causing long delays.
Evidence identified the culprit nearly three years later, in November 2022, in a letter from Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, a hospital Swift had never been to.
“I thought it was a scam,” recalled Ms. Swift’s mother, Virginia Dickson-Swift.
‘We open it up and it says ‘Dear Tess, you’ve tested positive for gnathostomiasis, give me a call.’
Tess Swift unknowingly picked up a strange parasite on her vacation (pictured in Thailand in 2015) that would remain unidentified for seven years until 2022.
Tess underwent her latest surgery last week to fix complications with her feeding tube, which she has used since 2018.
Gnathostomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by various species of parasitic worms of the genus Gnathostoma, which can be fatal in some cases.
Ms. Swift underwent immediate treatment to kill the parasite.
She now lives with major depressive disorder, chronic pain and nausea, PTSD, and has yet to use a feeding tube.
He underwent his last surgery last week to fix complications with his tube.
Because the parasite lived inside him for many years, it has caused a lot of nerve damage that, at the moment, there is no way for doctors to repair.’
Her health problems have also had a major impact on her career and she is unable to use her nursing degree, but now works as an occasional caregiver for disabled people.
Gnathostomiasis
Gnathostomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by several species of parasitic worms of the genus Gnathostoma, which infect humans primarily by eating raw or undercooked freshwater fish, eels, frogs, birds, and reptiles.
The disease is common in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, but it can also be found in South and Central America, and in some areas of Africa.
During the early stages of infection, the parasitic worm makes its way into the blood system through the walls of the stomach, intestine, or liver.
Parasite-induced gnathostomiasis (pictured) is most commonly found in Southeast Asian countries and can cause nerve damage, vision loss, or even death if left untreated.
Many people show no symptoms in the first few weeks of infection, but some may experience fever, excessive tiredness, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain.
When the parasite enters the bloodstream, it can cause painfully itchy swellings under the skin, but it can also cause nerve damage, loss of vision, and even death.
Ms Swift and her mother now want to raise awareness about the mostly unknown disease that has only been treated 68 times by Australia’s only gnathostomiasis specialist.
Ms Dickson-Swift believes that more information should be available for travelers to areas where the parasite is ‘endemic’ and that parasites be tested more frequently.
It is such a rare parasite. The doctors we’ve talked to have no idea really, they’ve never heard of it,” he said.
‘[We want] to raise awareness that it could be a possibility of someone who has returned from Asia… If you’ve been to the specific places where this thing is, then it’s a possibility.’
Her daughter documents her health problems on social media.
‘I always saw my trip as a ‘sickness’ only trip, but my perspective has changed. I now see it as my “sick and well” journey, Ms. Swift wrote.
“I look forward to continuing to explore the best ways and combinations to support my body, mind, and soul.”
Although immediate treatment eliminated the parasite, Ms. Swift still battles the ongoing effects of the infestation, including use of a feeding tube (pictured) and numerous mental illnesses.