Worm Dust

by Victoria Caswell
I KNOW THE STORY everyone wants to hear before they study abroad is how they developed a mysterious rash that never went away. Mine started with a few bumps on my feet. Then my arms. Then my back. Gradually the bumps grew out of control. The bumps just kept getting bigger and itchier. I know it sounds disgusting. It disgusted me.

After a few days Giovanni took me to the pharmacy. The pharmacist took one look at my arms and prescribed a cream to use twice a day. It amazed me that a diagnosis could be made that fast, but the best part was the cream was only 9.50 eu. I know I couldn’t get that kind of service at any pharmacy in America. I then hurried home to try the cream.

Several days later the rash kept getting worse. I tried spraying deet and citronella bug spray in my room. I also tried sleeping with the windows closed, in case I was getting bit in the middle of the night. Finally after the deet didn’t work, Erin came to my room to check my bed for bed bugs. We pulled back the sheets and the mattress pad on my bed, but it looked normal. Although I have to admit, I’m not really sure what I was looking for.

I had had enough. I saw Angela in the piazza and she had an Italian who speaks English take me to the hospital. We walked in and a paramedic immediately saw me. She explained that the mysterious bumps were a chicken pox-like reaction to the dust that Italian tree worms shed when they transform. I would be allergic to that. I was quickly given a cream and was sent on my way.

Flash forward a few hours. I had spread the cream all over my body, gone to the river with my roommates and had eaten a cheese and tomato panino in the piazza. My tongue had swollen up and my throat was constricted. So I went back to the hospital.

Once again, I was rushed in, only this time I was put on a stretcher and I had three doctors around me. I had a stint put in my arm and what I assume was the equivalent of an epi-pen injected. There was blood everywhere. What really struck me was how none of my information was taken in any of my interactions with medical people and how I was given medicine without being asked what else I’m allergic to. I was impressed with the speedy service. If I were to go to an American hospital I would have had to wait two hours.

In the end, I don’t know what the real cause of the reaction was. For all I know it was either the cream or the panino.