risk of serious infection
Dog feces sickened truck drivers for life
Such a meadow is attractive. But if you let your dog do his business without keeping him away afterward, you put the health of people and animals at risk.
© Jens Buttner / Picture Alliance
Dog feces isn’t just a nuisance — it can make people seriously ill. A particularly bad case has emerged in Wales.
It is usually only a few seconds that can change lives forever. For British truck driver Darryl Adams, it was such a moment during a rugby match in 2005. During the match, a teammate kicked his shin. Nothing unusual in playing rugby – but in this case it had serious health consequences.
Because there was dog feces on the cleats of the rugby shoes. Apparently, someone had left a legacy of their four-legged friend on the pitch at Blaenau Gwent, about 60 kilometers north of Cardiff, while going for a walk. One player went dog hunting—and then stepped on Darryl Adams’ shin with the same shoe.
Pathogens in dog feces – this rugby match had dire consequences
The shoe cleats were etched into Adams’ skin—and thus began his tale of mourning. He contracted severe cellulitis from dog feces, a bacterial infection that has been making life difficult for him for the past 17 years. Because the Welshman’s foot keeps on swelling. He will hardly ever be able to get rid of this disease.
The 50-year-old’s medical history can now be read in the media in Wales to draw attention to the “National Dog Fouling Campaign”, which aims to encourage dog owners to always dispose of their animal’s heritage. Healthy. Because dog excrement poses many dangers—both for animals if they eat contaminated grass, for example, and for people if they become infected with pathogens from excrement.
Darryl Adams’ now 17-year-old ordeal is also dotted with harsh photos showing badly swollen, partially red feet, which brought him to the hospital several times. The leg “never healed again” after the infection, he summarizes more than a decade and a half of that fatal kick while playing rugby.
A doctor at the clinic told her that cellulite would never go away. Quite the contrary: Small triggers will repeatedly set off painful swelling. And so it happened. “One severe flu was enough – and the disease spread again,” Adams told local media. Infection increased repeatedly between 2005 and 2013, and the most recent disease was also the most severe.
Truck driver infested with pathogens in dog excrement for 17 years
His leg has been feeling awful and swollen for 17 years now. “And all because some arrogant didn’t feel like cleaning up his dog’s pile.”
How much risk comes from dog excrement is now known by several studies that have identified many different pathogens, such as worms and unicellular parasites. Young children or immunocompromised, elderly people can be especially ill with pathogens.
However, the example of a truck driver from Wales shows that even an athletic man in his early 30s can be marked for life by a disease caused by dog excrement.
Source: “Liverpool Echo,CheshireLive, scienceXX
You can find more health topics in our podcast: A Woman Loses Her Sense of Smell. As more symptoms appear, the condition gets worse. In an interview, Anika Geisler, host of the Dr. podcast “Die Diagnose,” talks about cases of illness in the new season.
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