What's wrong with this patient? Leishmaniasis

It seems that our soldiers are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with unwanted and often undetected hitchhikers.

There is no leishmaniasis vaccine available yet, so the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid sandfly bites.

Three months after his return from Afghanistan, a previously healthy 31-year-old soldier I'll call Jason Serrano entered the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington, DC, because of persistent fever. He had been febrile for a month, with temperatures fluctuating between 99 F (37.2 C) and 104 F (40 C). Mr. Serrano had also experienced rigors, flushing, sweats, anorexia, and mild orthostatic hypotension during the course of his illness, and had lost 13 pounds. A physical exam revealed an enlarged liver and spleen. ( to read the rest of the article please follow link bellow )http://clinicians.mediwire.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content&ArticleID=163352

Diseases You Can Catch from Your Pet

(Always be careful when handling pet waste.)
These diseases can be transmitted from pets to humans through fleas, ticks and animal secretions or excretions – such as salvia, urine or feces – as well as contaminated water or soil.
A number of diseases are associated with pet waste. Although toxoplasmosis from contact with kitty litter is rare, some people become infected this way. Pregnant women are at highest risk, but toxoplasmosis is more commonly obtained by eating uncooked meat or unwashed vegetables.
http://www.petside.com/news/diseases-you-can-catch-from-your-pet.html

Tapeworm evolution revealed

(Now that's a twist. It's like the new story about dog bites man. It's not really news until the man bites the dog. )
Humans gave tapeworms to cows and pigs - not the other way around as was thought. New research indicates that much of what was regarded as obvious about tapeworm evolution is wrong and that it was humans who infected cows and dogs, not the other way around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2040756.stm

CDC: Watch Out for Pool Parasites

(Remember the theme music from the Jaws movie? Every time you heard the music, you knew that the shark was coming. Now every time you go to the swimming pool you'll be thinking about that theme and have cryptosporidium to worry about.)
Last year, the CDC got a record number of reported outbreaks of recreational water illnesses, which are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with germs in the water of swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans.
So far, the CDC has reports of 21 outbreaks of cryptosporidium ("crypto"), the leading cause of recreational water illnesses. \
http://www.webmd.com/news/20080519/cdc-watch-out-for-pool-parasites

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