Sleep Tight

The Elephant Man

2010-03-03T18:50:00.000Z

Being no oil painting myself, I have had my fair share female admirers and females who have vomited at the thought of me naked...

Joseph Carey Merrick was far better known for his hideous looks than I ever have been.

Only 27 when he died (short even by Victorian standards) and born 5 August 1862, living till 11 April 1890 Merrick was an Englishman who became known as "The Elephant Man" because his physical appearance caused by a congenital disorder. Because of his condition, he garnered the sympathy of Britain during the Victorian era. A number of sources incorrectly give his name as John Merrick not joseph (a common mistake even now).

Joseph Merrick was born to Mary Jane Potterton and Joseph Rockley Merrick. Because of an error made by Sir Frederick Treves in his book, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences, Merrick is sometimes erroneously called John Merrick. He was the eldest of three and had a younger brother and sister. In an autobiographical note which appeared on the reverse side of his freak show pamphlet, Merrick mentions that his deformity began developing at the age of three with the appearance of small bumps on the left side of his body. His mother died when he was 12. According to family accounts, she was physically disabled as well. His father remarried, but his stepmother did not want young Joseph. Obliged to earn a living by selling goods on the street, Merrick was constantly harassed by local children. Unable to bring home a profit and tired of fighting with his stepmother, Merrick left home.

Twice ending up in the Leicester Union workhouse, Merrick was unemployable for most of his life. On 29 August 1884, he took a job as a sideshow performer where he was treated decently and earned a considerable sum of money. At one point during his sideshow career, Merrick was exhibited in the back of an empty shop in Whitechapel (259 Whitechapel Road, E1 – now called the Ukay London Sari Centre), where he was seen by the physician Frederick Treves (later knighted). As Treves recalled decades later in his memoirs, he gave Merrick one of his business cards in the event that Merrick would be willing to submit to medical examination. The two men then went their separate ways. When sideshows were outlawed in the United Kingdom in 1886, Merrick travelled to Belgium to find work. There, he was mistreated and ultimately abandoned by a showman, who stole Merrick's savings of £50 (worth approximately £3900 as of 2010).

After making his way back to London, Merrick inadvertently caused a disturbance in Liverpool Street railway station. Suffering from severe bronchitis and hampered by his deformities, Merrick was barely able to speak intelligibly. However, he had kept Treves' business card and Treves was duly summoned by the authorities. In his role as physician at the London Hospital, Treves arranged for Merrick to be given permanent quarters there. Merrick thrived in these circumstances.

He became something of a celebrity in Victorian high society. Alexandra of Denmark, then Princess of Wales and later Queen Consort, developed a kindly interest in Merrick, leading other members of the upper class to embrace him. He eventually became a favourite of Queen Victoria. However, Treves later commented that Merrick always wanted, even after living at the hospital, to go to a hospital for the blind where he might find a woman who would not be repelled by his appearance. In his final years, he found some solace in writing and visiting the countryside.

In the summer of 1887, he spent some weeks at the Fawsley Hall estate, Northamptonshire. Special measures were taken for his journey and he was forced to travel in a carriage with blinds drawn to avoid attracting attention. He greatly enjoyed his time away from urban London, made many new friends, and collected wild flowers to take back to London. He visited again in 1888 and 1889. He was cared for at the hospital until his death at the age of 27 on 11 April 1890. His death was apparently caused by the accidental dislocation of his neck during sleep – Merrick, unable to sleep reclining due to the weight of his head, may have tried to do so in this instance, in an attempt to imitate normal behaviour. The coroner at his inquest was Wynne Edwin Baxter, who had come to prominence during the notorious Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.

Merrick's preserved skeleton remains in the pathology collection at the Royal London Hospital. While his remains have never been on public display, there is a small museum focused on his life, which houses some of his personal effects and period Merrick memorabilia.

Joseph Merrick was originally thought to be suffering from elephantiasis. In 1971, Ashley Montagu suggested in his book The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity that Merrick suffered from neurofibromatosis type I, a genetic disorder also known as von Recklinghausen disease. During 1986 it was postulated that Merrick actually suffered from Proteus syndrome, diagnosed by Michael Cohen seven years earlier. Unlike neurofibromatosis, Proteus syndrome, named for the shape-shifting god Proteus, affects tissue other than nerves, and it is a sporadic disorder rather than a genetically transmitted disease.

During June 2001, Paul Spiring had an article published in Biologist in which he proposed a new diagnosis. Spiring suggested that Merrick suffered from combined neurofibromatosis type 1 and Proteus syndrome. This hypothesis was endorsed by Robert Matthews, a correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph in an article titled "Two wrongs don't make a right - until someone joins them up". It also formed the basis for a documentary film titled The Curse of The Elephant Man that was produced for the Discovery Health Channel by Natural History New Zealand Limited (released 21 July 2003).

During 2002, Natural History New Zealand Limited, along with genealogists, put out a BBC appeal to trace the Merrick family line. In response to the appeal, a Leicester resident named Pat Selby was discovered to be the granddaughter of Merrick's uncle. A research team took her DNA samples in order to try to diagnose the condition that caused his deformities. The investigation also discovered that Merrick's sister, Marion Eliza, suffered from myelitis. Marion Eliza died at the age of 23 of severe food poisoning.

During 2003, DNA tests conducted by Dr. Charis Eng on samples of Merrick's hair and bone showed no mutation in the PTEN gene (only present in some Proteus syndrome sufferers). Hence, there is as of yet no physical evidence to support the theory that Merrick suffered from Proteus syndrome.

Merrick's condition greatly affected his social relation and his views of himself:

"Tis true my form is something odd,

But blaming me is blaming God.

Could I create myself anew,

I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole,

Or grasp the ocean with a span,

I would be measured by the soul,

The mind's the standard of the man."

A poem by Isaac Watts that Joseph Merrick would use to end his letters.

Little is known about Merrick's family. He was named after his father, Joseph Rockley Merrick (March 1838 – 30 January 1897), who was born in Leicester to Sarah Rockley, the third wife of Barnabas Merrick (23 August 1792 – 12 April 1856). Joseph Sr. married the reportedly "crippled" Mary Jane Potterton on 29 December 1861. It is believed that the Merrick family lived at one time on Syston Street in Leicester, off the Humberstone Lane, but being poor houses, they have since been demolished. The original site is now the Cobden Street Estate.

Their oldest son, Joseph, was born on 5 August 1862, in Leicester. Their younger son, William Arthur Merrick, was born on 8 January 1866, followed by their daughter Marion Eliza Merrick on 28 September 1867. William contracted scarlet fever and died on 21 December 1870. Marion Eliza had been disabled since birth, but would survive until 19 March 1891, dying from a seizure.

The Elephant Man, the film released on 3 October 1980, features Mary Jane's son "John" speaking highly of her. "She has the face of an angel," he says. John (Joseph) is depicted looking at a small picture of his mother very often in the film.

Mary Jane died from bronchial pneumonia on 19 May 1873. Joseph was re-married to Emma Wood Antill on 3 December 1874, and she soon convinced her new husband to send the deformed Joseph away.

Name discrepancy

Early biographies of Merrick inaccurately give his first name as John, an error repeated in many later versions, including the 1980 film The Elephant Man. This error arose and propagated because most of the early works including Ashley Montagu's The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity and Frederick Drimmer's Very Special People, used as research the memoirs of Sir Frederick Treves, written many years after his first-hand experience with Merrick. Treves misreported Merrick's first name as John, causing Montagu and Drimmer to repeat this error in good faith. Montagu's book, in an appendix, quotes a document by Dr. F.C. Carr Gomm, written shortly after Merrick's death, in which Gomm correctly identifies Merrick as Joseph; Montagu dismisses this as Gomm's error. The stage play identifies Merrick as John throughout, except when Gomm (also a character in this play) reads aloud the same document later quoted by Montagu, correctly naming him as Joseph Merrick. In the play, Treves considers this an error, "correcting" Gomm by remarking, "John. John Merrick." The film From Hell also contains what may be a tongue-in-cheek reference to this historical disagreement: in a scene where Merrick is depicted, the character introducing Merrick refers to him correctly as Joseph Merrick but an unseen guest "corrects" him by whispering loudly "John Merrick!" This has been a common mistake for the past century.

Following the publication of Montagu's book, Merrick returned to popular attention around 1980 when two high-profile productions made him their subject. His life story became the basis of the 1979 Tony Award-winning play The Elephant Man, in which he is initially played by Philip Anglim, followed by David Bowie. In the following year, the Academy Award-nominated film The Elephant Man was released, in which he was played by John Hurt. A novel based upon the film was released in the same year, written by Christine Sparks. Each production took a different approach to the story, with the stage version largely focused on Merrick's lack of a sex life. In 1982, the play was broadcast as a television movie. In most productions, the actor playing Merrick wears no makeup, instead mimicking his physicality so the audience has to imagine his deformities. In 2003, Naxos Records released on CD and DVD the world premiere of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, a new opera by the French composer Laurent Petitgirard.

In May 1987 reports began circulating that pop star Michael Jackson had offered the Royal London Hospital up to $1 million for Merrick's remains. The reports included quoted statements from the Hospital and from Jackson's publicists. Jackson responded by including a dance sequence with an animated elephant man skeleton in the 1989 video for "Leave Me Alone", which also parodied other press stories about him. He directly denied the reports in his 1993 interview for Oprah Winfrey:

That's another stupid story. I love the story of the Elephant man. He reminds me of me a lot, and I could relate to it. It made me cry because I saw myself in the story, but no, I never asked for the—Where am I going to put some bones? and why would I want some bones?… Someone makes it up, and everybody believes it. If you hear a lie often enough, you start to believe it.

Despite Jackson's denial, the claim was repeated in the reports following his death. But in a conversation with CBC Radio, David Edwards, the chief administrator of the London Hospital at the time, said Jackson had visited the venue and was shown Merrick's bones.

Guitarist Buckethead has titled several songs referencing Merrick, including "John Merrick - Elephant Man Bones Explosion" a song and imaginary ride on the album Bucketheadland 2 released in 2003. In 2005 Buckethead released Secret Recipe, a DVD with several bonus MP3 songs. Among them included the song titled "John Merrick Lectures". In 2006 Buckethead released the album The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock again referencing Merrick this time as an entire album. Heavy metal band Mastodon has written several songs about Merrick. The last track on the first three of their studio albums is a reference to Merrick. They are: on Remission, "Elephant Man;" on Leviathan, "Joseph Merrick" and on Blood Mountain, "Pendulous Skin." The Fall of Troy, an experimental progressive rock band, released the song "Whacko Jacko Steals The Elephant Man's Bones" on its 2005 album, Doppelganger. This was a reference to the rumor of Jackson purchasing Merrick's bones.

References to Merrick have also been featured in various television shows. In the season one episode "The One About Friends" of the comedy series The Cleveland Show, one gag involves Cleveland Brown revealing that he used to share a room with Merrick, who revealed to him that he was not given the name of "Elephant Man" for his appearance, but instead for his large penis.

World's strangest spa treatments...Fishy Feet & Bloodsuckers

2010-02-25T15:12:00.002Z

Fish cleanse a woman’s toes at a Yvonne beauty salon

Feet a bit furry? Call in the piscine medics. Malaysian garra rufa carp have no teeth, which means they nibble away decomposing skin very gently - and thoroughly. They got their nickname, doctor fish, for their use in treating eczema and psoriasis. Described by one writer in Kuala Lumpur as a "micro-massage followed by tingling sensations", the treatment is said to leave the soles baby-smooth and increase blood circulation.

A 20-minute soak in a fish spa at Yvonne's beauty salons in the US costs $70 (£45).

Leeches: said to have numerous positive health effects

Some 3,500 years after Egyptians began applying them medicinally, leeches are back in fashion. The actress Demi Moore raved about her hirudotherapy treatment in Austria, involving four "highly trained leeches" and a turpentine bath. Leeches' saliva, containing anti-clotting, painkilling and antiseptic enzymes, is said to increase circulation.

The Welsh company Biopharm Leeches (slogan: "the biting edge of science") proudly affirms that the marsh-dwelling blood-suckers - with three jaws, each with 100 teeth - are regularly used in plastic surgery and in osteoporosis research.

You can buy and apply your own leeches, or receive a one-on-one leech consultation in various US states, with Ala-Med Hirudotherapy.

((From MSN News Page)

Heavy Breathing Phone Calls...

2010-02-22T14:39:00.004Z

Starting with this 1975 track by 10cc called Iceberg, a light hearted way to broach the subject...

What to do about Nuisance Calls to get rid of the problem of Phone Hoaxers causing worry and upset.

Making phone calls to annoy people is a form of harassment and is now regarded as a criminal offence, a psychological form of assault.

It is taken quite seriously, and is not "harmless". Police and the criminal justice system will prosecute antisocial behaviour of this type.

Also, ISPs and telephone companies are keen to take action to remove abusers from their systems.

If you are the victim of attacks by phone hoaxers, the first thing to realise is that, in general, people who make hoax phone calls are in some ways psychologically deficient and are doing this as an attempt to compensate for their own inadequacies.

This goes further than the idea of "they haven't properly grown up" and is often symptomatic of an underlying personality fault similar to that found in cases of other types of Abuser.

The second thing to be aware of is this: Yes! You CAN do something about it. Even if the hoaxers are withholding the phone number, using a mobile phone, using other people's phones, or using random public call boxes, they can be caught, and they often are, much to their surprise.

When caught, they can be punished. Punishments for psychological assault and telephone misuse vary from place to place, but are generally to a level where the guilty party will not be smiling about it afterwards.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT NUISANCE PHONE CALLS

The methods for dealing with the problems of phone hoaxing are twofold: Psychological defences, and practical action.

PSYCHOLOGY OF NUISANCE PHONE CALLS

Let's not underestimate the psychological aspects.

It's very annoying to have ignorant oafs phoning you up and saying stupid things. If late at night and/or if you feel the tone is threatening, it can be especially upsetting.

But you have to build up your psychological strength to have some defence against this.

The attackers are not making themselves look big by it, and by indulging in such puerile practices they have already demeaned themselves.

If you lived in a fortified castle and you heard that someone was throwing bad fruit at the outer walls, you'd surely laugh at them from the top of the ramparts!?

Your enemy might not even be worth an arrow.

PRACTICAL ACTION TO DEAL WITH NUISANCE PHONE CALLS

Then again, you might decide that they are worth hitting back, even if only to make an example of them to deter other would-be nuisance hoaxers.

The news on this is good, as there are many practical things that can be done.

Firstly, get CALLER DISPLAY. In the UK, this is now free, thanks to British Telecom! You might have to buy a small gadget, or a new caller display phone, but these are not expensive. See BT

Next, set up a POLICY. This is your set of resolutions on what you are going to do. By having a clearly defined set of rules which you define, you have a consistent logical method. (instead of being swayed by emotions).

Now the key feature of tackling hoax calls. This is important, and although it may seem at first glance to be weak, it isn't. It's a well-proven method which works, as it generates scientific evidence which can be used in a court case against the perpetrators of the nuisance calls. Here's what you do: Get a blank book, a pen, and an accurate clock. Have these near the phone. When a hoax call comes in, make a note in the book. Note down the exact date and time, the incoming caller number (or "withheld", if appropriate), and the nature of the call, duration, etc. For hoax calls, you as the recipient should not say anything. By starving the hoaxers of any response by you, they may at some point just give up (and go and annoy someone else, or play with themselves, etc). Bullies of various types are seekers of the cheap thrill, and will be disappointed by your silence. see bullying Anyway, back to this thing about the

PHONE HOAX BOOK. As we already know the hoax calls are a campaign of harassment, if you stick to your principle of writing down accurate logs of incoming hoax calls, you will end up with a record of evidence. Here's the sort of thing: SHOP. Around the world, an increasing number of telephone exchange networks also have similar facilities to Caller Display. I've even heard a lyric in a song which goes ..."what the hell is Call ID?!" and "my friends say I should act my age" etc. Having got Call ID / Caller Display, you can now opt to ignore incoming calls from known sources. Incidentally, if the caller uses "number withheld", this may be regarded as bad anyway. Many people will not answer incoming "withheld" anonymous calls. "Withheld" is clearly distinct from "International" which also has no incoming number, usually.

Date/Time	Number	Description	Duration
2006/05/23 02:20	1234	heavy breathing	20 seconds
2006/05/23 02:23	1234	various people shouting and saying nonsensical things in the background	10 seconds
2006/05/23 02:31	1234	inane laughing	10 seconds
2006/05/24 15:06	1234	someone saying in a menacing voice "I'm going to kill you and torture your cat" and then a few other people laughing in the background, then hung up	about 15 seconds
2006/05/24 15:10	1234	various shouted insults, but hard to decipher	5 seconds
2006/05/25 23:38	withheld	silence	10 seconds
2006/05/25 23:41	withheld	silence	5 seconds
2006/05/25 23:47	withheld	silence, apart from radio in background	5 seconds

This is just an example to show the type of thing. If you make a note of incoming telephone hoaxes, it should have a similar form to this.

The thing about a list like this is that it is a testimony of events. The exact times recorded are the key feature, like a fingerprint. This will later be used for matching up to other evidence. The chances are you have your suspicions about who is guilty of this terrible campaign of harassment. When you present your hoax book to the police and the phone companies, they can cross reference it with the suspect's phone. If it is found that your list of hoaxes happens to fit with the suspect's phone log of outgoing calls, then the police will be able to prove the person guilty of being a nuisance caller and they will be dealt with accordingly. The phone company may take a different view of justice in action and may cut off the culprit's phone.

The reason this method works so well is because, although you might in theory be able to write an entirely faked-up hoax book, it would not match up to any phone owned by the person you are accusing. You can see a similar effect in the way people make up six numbers to put on their National Lottery ticket, and then we see if the numbers happen to match up to the actual winning numbers on the National Lottery prize draw!

On being cornered, the hoaxers will most likely make up a variety of poor excuses to try to defend themselves, including the irrational notion used by most abusers, that it was all the fault of the victim. Alternatively, a hoaxer may apologise, in which case it's then up to you to be gracious about it, or not, according to your personal nature.

Either way, the end result is generally that peace is restored; You don't get any more nuisance calls, and the perpetrator does not re-offend.

Other useful contacts:

BT Nuisance Call Bureau: uk 0800 411422

NTL UK Nuisance Call abuse reporting line: 0800 052 1370

UK NUISANCE CALLS CENTRE: 0845 6667000

BT NUISANCE CALL ADVICE LINE: 0800 661441

BT NUISANCE CALL ACTION LINE: 0800 085 4750 or 08003289393. Now 0800 411422 (office hours 8:30-5:00 mon-fri)

POLICE: (look the number up in your local area)

Also see How to Stop TEXT MESSAGES

"Trying to psychoanalyse telephone nuisance call perpetrators is always tricky, but usually the reason turns out to be jealousy, or some kind of personal failing in the personal life of the hoaxer. It's best not to get involved. Police advice is to initially ignore hoax messages and if the problem persists, then go for an investigation. Offenders can be prosecuted, but are sometimes let off with a warning, but with their details stored on a police database a bit like the sex offenders register in case they repeat-offend. This usually does the trick, and repeat offenders are rare".

Here's some advice by a helpful ex-telecom correspondent:

BT register the sender and receiver of all calls, it is necessary for the automated billing system. This has been the case ever since the UK 'System X' automated exchange network was commissioned. Even if the hoax caller uses the 141 'number with-held prefix' the caller is registered. But BT don't like to admit this.

If you note the exact time the call was received BT can bring up the number [ and address] from where the call was made; however BT [and TalkTalk and Virgin etc] have a policy of offering a 141 caller privacy service, so they will not divulge the number to you. Neither will they take action against 'idiot calls', several thousand are reported weekly.

There are exceptions to this, such as when the police request a number and a location; in cases involving terrorism, blackmail or death threats. A classic example was the kidnapper Michael Sams who used the same phone box in Sleaford-Linc's to arrange a ransom for the release of his victim. Police were able to stake out the area around the phone box ready for his next call and arrest him.

So my advice.
First dial 1471 just in case the caller forgot to with-hold the number.
Note the time of the call and always report it to you service provider.
If it involves threats to life, threats to children, blackmail, or similar, involve the police.

Tapeworm...

2010-02-21T21:11:00.000Z

Tapeworm infestation can be well over 1 metre long...

Passing a tape worm

A head of a Tapeworm

Tapeworm in animal feces

Cestoda is a class of parasitic flatworms, commonly called tapeworms, that live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults and often in the bodies of various animals as juveniles. Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, can grow up to 40 feet long (12 m); other species may grow to over 100 feet (30 m)

The worm's scolex ("head") attaches to the intestine of the definitive host. In some species, the scolex is dominated by bothria, which are sometimes called "sucking grooves", and function like suction cups. Other species have hooks and suckers that aid in attachment. Cyclophyllid cestodes can be identified by the presence of four suckers on their scolex. Tapeworms have sharp hooks on one side of the head which dig into the lining of the host's intestine.

Once anchored to the host intestinal wall, the tapeworm begins to grow a long tail. (The tapeworm’s body is basically a head segment to hold on with, a neck, and many tail segments). Each segment making up the tail is like a separate independent body, with an independent digestive system and reproductive tract. The tapeworm absorbs nutrients through its skin as the food being digested by the host flows past it. Older segments are pushed toward the tip of the tail as new segments are produced by the neckpiece. By the time a segment has reached the end of the tail, only the reproductive tract is left. When the segment drops off, it is basically just a sac of tapeworm eggs.

While the scolex is often the most distinctive part of an adult tapeworm, it is often unnoticed in a clinical setting as it is inside the patient. Thus, identifying eggs and proglottids in feces is important.

The main nerve centre of a cestode is in its scolex; as a cerebral ganglion. Motor and sensory innervation depends on the number and complexity of the scolex. Smaller nerves emanate from the commissures to supply the general body muscular and sensory ending. The cirrus and vagina are innervated and sensory endings around the genital pore are more plentiful than other areas. Sensory function includes both tactoreception and chemoreception. Some nerves are only temporary. These are in the proglottids, and stop working with a detach.

The body is composed of successive segments (proglottids). The sum of the proglottids is called a strobila, which is thin, resembling a strip of tape, and is the source of the common name "tapeworm". Like some other flatworms, cestodes use flame cells (protonephridia), located in the proglottids, for excretion.

Mature proglottids are released from the tapeworm's posterior end and leave the host in feces.

Because each proglottid contains the male and female reproductive structures, they can reproduce independently. It has been suggested by some biologists that each should be considered a single organism, and that the tapeworm is actually a colony of proglottids.

The layout of proglottids comes in two forms, craspedote, meaning proglottids are overlapped by the previous proglottid, and acraspedote which indicates a non-overlapping conjoined proglottid.

Many tapeworms have a two-phase life cycle with two types of host. The adult taenia saginata, for example lives in the gut of a primate such as a human. Proglottids leave the body through the anus and fall onto the ground, where they may be eaten with grass by animals such as cows. In the cow's body the juvenile forms migrate and establish themselves as cysts in body tissues such as muscles, rather than the gut; they cause more damage to this host than the intestinal form to its host. The parasite completes its life cycle when the grass-eater is eaten by a compatible carnivore—possibly a human with a preference for rare meat—in whose gut the adult taenia establishes itself. While being treated for certain tapeworm infections, you can reinfect yourself by ingesting tapeworm eggs shed by the adult worm into your stool.

There are fourteen recognised orders of Cestodes: the Amphilinidea, Gyrocotylidea and 12 orders belonging to the Eucestoda. Within the Eucestoda the Spathebothriidea appear to be a sister group to the remaining 11 orders. The Pseudophyllidea and Haplobothriidea appear to form a clade as do Cyclophyllidea, Nippotaeniidea and Tetrabothriidea.

Worm Farming: Livestock for the Home Gardener

2010-02-18T15:20:00.004Z

Who says that you need big acreage, fencing, and a place in the country in order to raise small livestock? You can ignore zoning ordinances, noise restrictions, or the neighbor’s objections when it comes to worm farming no matter where you reside.

Composting worms are the perfect breed of livestock for the gardener who wants to raise a little more than fruits, vegetables, and herbs in the backyard. The worms won’t put meat on the dinner table but they’ll happily recycle your kitchen waste and turn it into a rich, organic plant food known as worm castings.

I was fortunate enough to inherit a four-story worm bin, complete with red wriggler composting worms when a co-worker relocated out of state this summer (thanks Gretchen)! I’ve written about the perks of vermiculture and worm castings here in the past but this was my first attempt at vermicomposting.

The worms spent the summer contentedly out on the patio but this weekend I decided it was time to bring them indoors for the winter. The transition gave me a perfect excuse to tear things apart and take a close look at what was happening inside the worm bin. The experience was very similar to inspecting a colony of bees inside of a hive.

While there isn’t the same level of complexity, communication, and organization that the bees employ, the worms do enjoy their own sense of community and teamwork. My bin has four stackable trays in which the worms are free to roam around as they forage for food, mate, lay eggs, and do whatever other things worms do.

Touring a Deluxe Multi-Level Worm Condo

The lower level of the bin was full of finished worm castings along with a surprising number of earthworms in every stage of their development; full grown adults, juveniles, new hatchlings, and freshly laid eggs or worm cocoons. I had assumed that all but a few stragglers had abandoned this section of the worm bin to move up to greener pastures but I was wrong.

The second level of the bin was empty except for the commuters traveling up or down to reach the other levels so there wasn’t much to see in this section. The third level is where I thought all the action would be taking place because this is where I had been depositing table scraps and yard waste all summer long to feed the hungry beasts.

A giant overgrown zucchini, water hyacinths out of the pond, those mysteriously half eaten tomatoes left on the vines, weeds yanked from the garden, and other assorted organic yard matter joined the kitchen waste and shredded strips of paper that made their way into the third level to be assaulted in a piranha-like feeding frenzy.

Warning: Compost Under Construction, Do Not Disturb

It was amazing to see just how quickly the worms were able to devour whatever came their way and convert it into the black crumbly gold of rich worm castings! Unlike bees, it wasn’t possible to actually watch them work because they retreat from sight and disappear the second that a tray is exposed to any light. That led to some interesting bouts of peak-a-boo and hide-and-go-seek between the worms and myself.

The top tray of the bin was a wasteland of dried leaves, stalks, and debris that the worms didn’t seem to be taking much interest in. The only sign of life in this tray was from light colored, threadlike strands of baby worms that you had to look really close to notice. Guess these youngins were still finding their way around, figuring out up from down, and learning what’s good or bad.

After exploring the can-o-worms bin, I spent the rest of the afternoon separating worms from castings. The job was made a lot easier by the worm’s determination to avoid the light of day and move away and down deeper as each thin layer of castings was gently scraped away. They could only run so far until eventually I was left with nothing but a twisted mass of wriggling worms.

Relocating the Composting Worms Indoors for the Winter

Sorting through the castings you could clearly notice some areas containing concentrations of adult worms and others with pockets of barely discernible baby worms. I tried my best to save every single worm but I know that some of the adults and many of the babies will be going off to the garden when I add the castings to bed that I just finished preparing to plant the fall garlic in later this week.

Once the worm bin was cleaned, castings removed, and everything reassembled, order was restored as I divided the worms onto the top of two of the trays where a smorgasbord of delightful organic waste awaited them. Then the entire production was moved indoors to a corner of the room used for propagation and seed starting activities.

I have to admit that I’m very impressed with these red wriggler composting worms and the work that they are doing in their bin. They seem to be healthy and multiplying, with little effort on my part beyond feeding them garbage. Now I’ll see how it goes in the house and over the winter for my small livestock and worm farming operation.

Woman of Steel Offers Creepy Crawly Care

2010-02-12T11:48:00.005Z

Melanie Steele with her trusty dust comb

Head lice next to a match and a coin

From The Oakdale Leader by Kim Van Meter... Even mention the word “lice” and people start scratching their heads and shuddering at the thought of the creepy crawly nuisances doing the mambo in their children’s hair but for Oakdale resident Melanie Steele, the critters don’t bother her at all — which is a good thing seeing as people pay Steele for her delousing skills.

In a day and age where the future is now and technology is moving along at top speed, it’s hard to believe that something as simple and evolutionarily simple as a louse can still make people’s lives miserable with all the itching and scratching — not to mention highly contagious nature — but lice are still around and they’re still a pain to get rid of.

Especially if you aren’t even sure how to effectively rid your child and house of the tiny irritants. That’s where Steele comes in.

“It started out as a favor for friends and it doesn’t really bother me at all so I thought why not open a business,” Steele said of her 4-month-old Creepy Critter Hair Care business.

Steele uses an all-natural product called Lice Killer and the essential ingredients are as innocuous as tea tree oil, Eucalyptus oil, and coconut oil (just to name a few) and according to Steele, not only are they more effective than the harsh chemicals sold over the counter, they don’t smell so bad and they’re safe enough to use on babies.

Steele spends the time to comb out the hair with the specialized nit comb as well as uses a magnifying glass to ensure the hair is nit-free and then sends the client home with a special spray that can be used on furniture and bedding to deter further infestation.

The key, said Steele, is the follow-through, which most people don’t do because it’s tedious and time-consuming. “Education on the house is important,” Steele said.

“If they don’t clean the house it’ll start all over again. Once they start laying eggs they can lay eight eggs per louse per day. In a month’s time, that’s a lot of nasty little critters.”

Typically, parents mistake lice for dandruff until the itching starts in earnest.

By that time, the child is infested. Since opening her business, Steele has seen all kinds of home remedies — some quite dangerous and caustic — and varying levels of infestation.

“One woman put kerosene on the head of her little girl, trying to get rid of the lice,” Steele shared.

“One treatment with the product I use and the lice is gone.”

Steele, a bakery worker for Costco for the past 20 years, said while she never got lice as a child growing up in Oakdale and Waterford, she did catch them as an adult when she volunteered in the kids center at her church.

Steele laughs about the experience but she understands that no one likes to admit that they’ve had lice so she maintains confidentiality with her clients.

“You don’t think anything about mosquitoes or ticks but for some reason there’s a stigma to lice and people get embarrassed,” Steele said. But Steele finds the whole process interesting and while others may grimace, she just laughs and sets to work, saying she enjoys helping people.

“I can’t imagine these kids sleeping with those things in their hair,” Steele said.

“Lice become active at night and that’s when they really itch.

I’m sure it’s miserable.”

Steele said winter seems to have more outbreaks as people are in close quarters due to the weather and wearing more clothing, which offers more of an opportunity for the transference of the creepy crawlies.

While some places in the Los Angeles area charge upwards of $150 an hour, Steele is far more reasonable in her pricing.

“I just enjoy helping children,” she said.

Maggots and Maggot therapy

2010-02-08T16:45:00.002Z

Maggots rid diabetic patient of an antibiotic-resistant infection, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Maggot therapy (also known as maggot debridement therapy (MDT), larval therapy, larva therapy, larvae therapy, biodebridement or biosurgery) is a type of biotherapy involving the intentional introduction of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into the non-healing skin and soft tissue wound(s) of a human or animal for the purposes of selectively cleaning out only the necrotic tissue within a wound (debridement), disinfection, and promotion of wound healing.

Early history

Written records have documented that maggots have been used since antiquity as a wound treatment. There are reports of the successful use of maggots for wound healing by Maya Indians and Aboriginal tribes in Australia. There also have been reports of the use of maggot treatment in Renaissance times. During warfare, many military physicians observed that soldiers whose wounds had become colonized with maggots experienced significantly less morbidity and mortality than soldiers whose wounds had not become colonized. These physicians included Napoleon’s surgeon general, Baron Dominique Larrey, who reported during France's Egyptian campaign in Syria, 1798–1801, that certain species of fly destroyed only dead tissue and had a positive effect on wound healing.

Dr. Joseph Jones, a ranking Confederate medical officer during the American Civil War, is quoted as follows, "I have frequently seen neglected wounds ... filled with maggots ... as far as my experience extends, these worms only destroy dead tissues, and do not injure specifically the well parts." The first therapeutic use of maggots is credited to a second Confederate medical officer Dr. J.F. Zacharias, who reported during the American Civil War that, "Maggots ... in a single day would clean a wound much better than any agents we had at our command ... I am sure I saved many lives by their use." He recorded a high survival rate in patients he treated with maggots.

During World War I, Dr. William S. Baer, an orthopedic surgeon, recognized on the battlefield the efficacy of maggot colonization for healing wounds. He observed one soldier left for several days on the battlefield who had sustained compound fractures of the femur and large flesh wounds of the abdomen and scrotum. When the soldier arrived at the hospital, he had no signs of fever despite the serious nature of his injuries and his prolonged exposure to the elements without food or water. When his clothes were removed, it was seen that "thousands and thousands of maggots filled the entire wounded area." To Dr. Baer's surprise, when these maggots were removed "there was practically no bare bone to be seen and the internal structure of the wounded bone as well as the surrounding parts was entirely covered with most beautiful pink tissue that one could imagine." This case took place at a time when the death rate for compound fractures of the femur was about 75-80%.

Modern use

While at Johns Hopkins University in 1929, Dr. Baer introduced maggots into 21 patients with intractable chronic osteomyelitis. He observed rapid debridement, reductions in the number of pathogenic organisms, reduced odor levels, alkalinization of wound beds, and ideal rates of healing. All 21 patients' open lesions were completely healed and they were released from the hospital after 2 months of maggot therapy.

After the publication of Dr. Baer's results in 1931, maggot therapy for wound care became very common, particularly in the United States. The Lederle pharmaceutical company commercially produced "Surgical Maggots", larvae of the green bottle fly, which primarily feed on the necrotic tissue of the living host without attacking living tissue. Between 1930 and 1940, more than 100 medical papers were published on maggot therapy. Medical literature of this time contains many references to the successful use of maggots in chronic or infected wounds including osteomyelitis, abscesses, burns, sub-acute mastoiditis,and chronic empyema.

More than 300 American hospitals employed maggot therapy during the 1940s. The extensive use of maggot therapy prior to World War II was curtailed when the discovery and growing use of penicillin caused it to be deemed outdated.

Maggots are contained in a cage-like dressing over the wound for two days. The maggots may be allowed to move freely within that cage, with the wound floor acting as the bottom of the cage; or the maggots may be contained within a sealed pouch, placed on top of the wound. The dressing must be kept air permeable because maggots require oxygen to live. When maggots are satiated, they become substantially larger and seek to leave the site of a wound. Multiple two-day courses of maggot therapy may be administered depending on the severity of the non-healing wound.

Maggots can never reproduce in the wound since they are still in the larval stage and too immature to do so. Reproduction can only occur when they become adult flies and mate.

Farmers brace for locust onslaught

2010-02-05T09:58:00.002Z

Photo from recent locust swarm in Afghanistan

The area in Western Queensland where worries lie

Biosecurity Queensland says farmers and graziers could be facing one of the worst seasons for plague locusts in several years, due to the recent rain.

Aerial surveys have shown numbers of the Australian plague locust have been building up in the state's Channel Country.

Biosecurity officer Graham Hardwick says virtually all of the state's agricultural areas are at some level of risk because locusts can travel up to 500 kilometres in a night.

"There were some fairly large numbers there before the rain and they have laid again," he said.

"Some of those should be hatching out in the next week or so and there are going to be some big issues with the Australian plague locust in that area.

"They are a worry because they multiple so quickly and they can move across a large area in a short space of time depending on the weather fronts."

Mr Hardwick says locusts can cause millions of dollars worth of damage to crops and pastures and landholders are being urged to report sightings.

"This is ... potentially one of the worst seasons - because we had that rain around Christmas time and the floods out in the Channel Country," he said.

"Mostly when they breed up in the Channel Country they go south into New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

"However, there is the risk that they can come into the cropping areas in the east and that is what we are concerned about at this stage."

Dirtiest hotels of 2010 named by travel website

2010-02-02T08:35:00.002Z

Bad smells, unidentified splatters on walls, bed bugs and and bare wires hanging from light fittings are among the complaints left on travel website Tripadvisor.com about some of the places named on its annual 'Dirtiest Hotels' lists.

The ten dirtiest hotels in Asia, Canada, Europe, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States have been named in this year's lists, which were compiled based on reviews from unimpressed travellers.

Phi Phi Don Chukit Resort in Thailand took the dubious honour of being named dirtiest hotel in Asia.

"I don't think I can say anymore than this is the worst place I have ever stayed in my whole entrie [sic] life," one person wrote.

"Cockroaches...smelly.......yuk! Never ever stay here unless...well no...never ever stay here!!!"

Another review was entitled "Ruined our holidays, Disgusting place, terrible service".

Last year's Asia list specified that it also covered the Pacific region though it's not clear whether that is also the case this year.

No hotels in New Zealand or Australia appear on any of the lists.

A number of hotels named in the latest round-up of squalid accommodation have also been singled out in the past.

First Hotel Bangkok was deemed the dirtiest hotel in Asia last year but has dropped to number eight on this year's list.

Two London hotels named among the three worst in the United Kingdom last year - the Cromwell Crown and the Corbigoe Hotel - were again named among the 10 dirtiest in both the UK and Europe.

After the Cromwell topped last year's UK list it was visited by a reviewer from the Times, who concluded that it wasn't just the worst hotel in Britain but possibly "the worst hotel in the world".

However it was surpassed in the filth stakes this year by the Grosvenor Hotel in Blackpool, which was named the dirtiest in Europe.

"The room we stayed in was a minger," read one review from a person who claimed it was the worst hotel they'd stayed in for 20 years.

"Room hadn't been cleaned for ages, curtains / sheets were scruffy, tv didn't work, shower was covered in mould and ceiling tiles were collapsing," it continued.

The Grosvenor's proprietor, Chirag Khajuria, told local news website The Gazette he felt the reviews left on Tripadvisor were "unfair".

Was it my multi-blogged moan?

2010-01-28T10:54:00.001Z

Was it my multi-blogged moan that un-locked my new blog http://sequels-and-trilogies.blogspot.com/ ?
I know that blogger took the full 20 days to un-lock a blog of a friend of mine. Now his block WAS highly political but there should be no difference.
Perhaps it was my genuine threat to move to wordpress?

Who knows?

Thank You blogger for acting quickly

Bob de Bilde

in reference to: Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bob de Bilde gets his 15 minutes of fame...

2010-01-26T21:25:00.001Z

on IS A C*NT...

http://isacunt.blogspot.com/2010/01/bob-de-bilde.html

Thanks to GOT & the crew

in reference to: Bob De Bilde (view on Google Sidewiki)

My Disgust at Blogger

2010-01-26T13:25:00.002Z

Blogger has marked one of my blogs (Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies) as spam...

It will be deleted within 20 days if I do not lodge a review

WTF Blogger... I am seriously considering moving all my blogs to the more versatile Wordpress !

I am reposting this on ALL my other open blogs using the sidewikibar thingy!!!

in reference to: My Sony Ericsson Sucks: My Disgust at Blogger (view on Google Sidewiki)

Lice Infestation

2010-01-26T11:54:00.001Z

Head lice (Nits)

Pubic Lice (Crabs)

Lice infestation (pediculosis) is a skin infestation by tiny wingless insects.

Lice spread most frequently through person-to-person contact.
People with lice usually have severe itching.
Lice and their eggs can be found by looking through hair on the head or other parts of the body.
Treatment usually involves shampoos, creams, or lotions.
Some people require an antiparasitic drug taken by mouth.

Lice are barely visible wingless insects that live by sucking blood. They spread easily from person to person by body contact and shared clothing and other personal items. Three species of lice inhabit different parts of the body.

Head lice infest the scalp hair. The infestation is spread by personal contact and possibly by shared combs, brushes, hats, and other personal items. Head lice are a common scourge of school children of all social strata. Head lice are less common among blacks. There is no association between head lice and poor hygiene or low socioeconomic status.

Body lice usually infest people who have poor hygiene and those living in close quarters or crowded institutions. They live in the seams of garments that are in contact with the skin. Body lice are spread by sharing contaminated clothing and bedding. Unlike head lice, body lice sometimes transmit serious diseases such as typhus, trench fever, and relapsing fever.

Pubic lice (“crabs”), which primarily infest the genital area, are typically spread during sexual contact. These lice may infest the chest hair, underarm hair, beard hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes as well.

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Lice infestation usually causes severe itching in the infested area. Intense scratching often breaks the skin, which can lead to bacterial infections. Children may hardly notice head lice or may have only a vague scalp irritation.

Head lice can be found by moving a fine-tooth detection comb through wet hair from the scalp outward. Lice themselves are sometimes hard to find, but their eggs are easier to see. Female lice lay shiny grayish white eggs (nits) that can be seen as tiny globules firmly stuck to hairs near their base. With chronic scalp infestations, the nits grow out with the hair and therefore can be found some distance from the scalp, depending on the duration of the infestation.

Nits are distinguished from other foreign material present on hair shafts by the fact that they are so strongly attached. Adult body lice and their eggs also may be found in the seams of clothing worn close to the skin. Public lice can be found by close inspection.

Treatment

Several effective prescription and nonprescription drugs are available to treat lice. Nonprescription shampoos and creams containing pyrethrins plus piperonyl butoxide are applied for 10 minutes and are then rinsed out. Prescription permethrin Some Trade Names
NIX
(a synthetic form of pyrethrin), applied as a liquid or as a cream, is also effective. Lindane—a prescription drug that can be applied as a lotion or shampoo—also cures lice infestation but is not as effective as the other preparations and is not recommended for young children because of possible neurologic side effects. Prescription malathion Some Trade Names
OVIDE
is highly effective at killing both adult lice and eggs, but it is not considered a first line of treatment because it is flammable, has an unpleasant odor, and must remain on the skin for 8 to 12 hours. All louse treatments are repeated in 7 to 10 days to kill newly hatched lice. Lice have started to become resistant to drugs and may be hard to kill. One dose of the drug ivermectin Some Trade Names
STROMECTOL
is usually given by mouth if lice resist standard treatment.

Most drug treatments also kill nits but do not remove them. Dead nits do not have to be removed, but drugs do not always kill all nits. Because it is not possible to distinguish between living and dead nits, doctors recommend removing them. Nonetheless, a very small percentage of children with nits in their scalp actually have live lice. Removal requires a fine-tooth comb—which is often packaged with the medication—and careful searching (hence the term “nit-picking”). Because the nits are so strongly stuck to the hair, several nonprescription preparations are available to loosen them. Nits are carried away from the scalp as the hair grows. If there are no nits within ¹/₄ inch of the scalp, the person does not have any live lice. The nits of body lice are destroyed simply by throwing away infested clothing or decontaminating it by thorough laundering or dry cleaning. For head lice, doctors do not have good evidence whether it is necessary to clean or throw away people's personal items or to exclude people from school or work.

Acne...

2010-01-23T10:29:00.002Z

Acne vulgaris (commonly called acne) is a common human skin disease, characterized by areas of skin with multiple noninflammatory follicular papules or comedones and by inflammatory papules, pustules, and nodules in its more severe forms. Acne vulgaris mostly affects the areas of skin with the densest population of sebaceous follicles; these areas include the face, the upper part of the chest, and the back. Severe acne is inflammatory, but acne can also manifest in noninflammatory forms.Acne lesions are commonly referred to as pimples, blemishes, spots, zits, or simply acne. Acne lesions are caused by changes in pilosebaceous units, skin structures consisting of a hair follicle and its associated sebaceous gland, changes which require androgen stimulation.

Acne occurs most commonly during adolescence, affecting more than 89% of teenagers, and frequently continues into adulthood. In adolescence, acne is usually caused by an increase in male sex hormones, which people of both genders accrue during puberty.For most people, acne diminishes over time and tends to disappear—or at the very least decrease—after one reaches one's early twenties. There is, however, no way to predict how long it will take to disappear entirely, and some individuals will carry this condition well into their thirties, forties and beyond.

The face and upper neck are the most commonly affected, but the chest, back and shoulders may have acne as well. The upper arms can also have acne, but lesions found there are often keratosis pilaris, not acne. Typical acne lesions are comedones, inflammatory papules, pustules and nodules.

Some of the large nodules were previously called "cysts" and the term nodulocystic has been used to describe severe cases of inflammatory acne.The "cysts," or boils that accompany cystic acne, can appear on the buttocks, groin, and armpit area, and anywhere else where sweat collects in hair follicles and perspiration ducts.^[5] Cystic acne affects deeper skin tissue than does common acne.

Aside from scarring, its main effects are psychological, such as reduced self-esteem and, according to at least one study, depression or suicide.^[8] Acne usually appears during adolescence, when people already tend to be most socially insecure. Early and aggressive treatment is therefore advocated by some to lessen the overall impact to individuals.

Nematode

2010-01-12T11:49:00.000Z

The "roundworms" or "nematodes" (phylum Nematoda) are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of described and undescribed roundworms might be more than 500,000. Unlike cnidarians or flatworms, roundworms have a digestive system that is like a tube with openings at both ends.

Nematodes commonly parasitic on humans include ascarids (Ascaris), filarids, hookworms, pinworms (Enterobius) and whipworms (Trichuris trichiura). The species Trichinella spiralis, commonly known as the trichina worm, occurs in rats, pigs, and humans, and is responsible for the disease trichinosis. Baylisascaris usually infests wild animals but can be deadly to humans as well. Dirofilaria immitus are Heartworms known for causing Heartworm disease by inhabiting the hearts, arteries, and lungs of dogs and some cats. Haemonchus contortus is one of the most abundant infectious agents in sheep around the world, causing great economic damage to sheep farms. In contrast, entomopathogenic nematodes parasitize insects and are considered by humans to be beneficial.

One form of nematode is entirely dependent upon fig wasps, which are the sole source of fig fertilization. They prey upon the wasps, riding them from the ripe fig of the wasp's birth to the fig flower of its death, where they kill the wasp, and their offspring await the birth of the next generation of wasps as the fig ripens.

Plant parasitic nematodes include several groups causing severe crop losses. The most common genera are Aphelenchoides (foliar nematodes), Ditylenchus, Globodera (potato cyst nematodes), Heterodera (soybean cyst nematodes), Longidorus, Meloidogyne (root-knot nematodes), Nacobbus, Pratylenchus (lesion nematodes), Trichodorus and Xiphinema (dagger nematodes). Several phytoparasitic nematode species cause histological damages to roots, including the formation of visible galls (e.g. by root-knot nematodes), which are useful characters for their diagnostic in the field. Some nematode species transmit plant viruses through their feeding activity on roots. One of them is Xiphinema index, vector of GFLV (Grapevine Fanleaf Virus), an important disease of grapes.

Other nematodes attack bark and forest trees. The most important representative of this group is Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the pine wood nematode, present in Asia and America and recently discovered in Europe.

Scabies

2010-01-09T10:55:00.002Z

Scabies, also known as the itch, is a contagious ectoparasite skin infection characterized by superficial burrows and intense pruritus (itching). It is caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The word scabies itself is derived from the Latin word for "scratch" (scabere). Other names or variants of the condition include Mite, Itch Mite, Mange, Crusted Scabies, Norwegian Scabies, Sarcoptes scabiei, or The Seven-Year Itch.

The characteristic symptoms of scabies infection include superficial burrows, intense pruritus (itching), a generalized rash and secondary infection. Acropustulosis, or blisters and pustules on the palms and soles of the feet, are characteristic symptoms of scabies in infants.^[1]

S-shaped tracks in the skin are often accompanied by small, insect-type bites called nodules that may look like pimples. These burrows and nodules are often located in the crevices of the body, such as the webs of fingers, toes, feet, buttocks, elbows, waist area, genital area and axilla, and under the breasts in women.

The intense itching and rash characteristic of scabies infection is caused by an allergic reaction of the body to the burrowed microscopic scabies mites. The rash can be found over much of the body, especially in immunocompromised people (HIV positive or elderly); the associated itching is often most prevalent at night.

Secondary infection of impetigo, a Streptococci or Staphylococci bacterial skin infection, after scratching. Cellulitis may also occur, resulting in localized swelling, redness and fever (DermNet).

In immuno-compromised, malnourished, elderly or institutionalized individuals, infestation can cause a more severe form of scabies known as crusted scabies or Norwegian scabies. This syndrome is characterized by a scaly rash, slight itching and thickened crusts of skin containing thousands of mites. Norwegian scabies is the form of scabies that is hardest to treat.

In individuals never before exposed to scabies, the onset of clinical signs and symptoms is 4–6 weeks after infestation, some people may not realize that they have it for years; in previously exposed individuals, onset can be as soon as 2–4 days after infestation.

Ringworm

2009-12-29T10:35:00.002Z

Ringworm on the arm, or tinea corporis due to Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Ringworm is a fungal infection of the skin in humans and domestic animals such as sheep and cattle. Fungi are organisms that survive by eating plant or animal material.

Those that cause parasitic infection (dermatophytes) feed on keratin, the material found in the outer layer of skin, hair, and nails.

These fungi thrive best on skin that is warm and moist.

This condition has been prevalent since before 1906, at which time ringworm was treated with compounds of mercury.

Hairy areas of skin were considered too difficult to treat, so the scalp was treated with x-rays and followed up with antiparasitic medication.

It is estimated that in current times, up to twenty percent of the population is infected by ringworm or one of the other dermatophytoses.

It is especially common among people who play sports, wrestling in particular; wrestlers with ringworm may be disqualified.

Misdiagnosis and treatment of ringworm with a topical steroid can result in tinea incognito, a condition where ringworm fungus will grow without typical features like a distinctive raised border.