Caduceus symbol
Did you know.... the symbol for medicine (cadeucus) which depicts a "snake" wrapped around a stick is a heroic version of how Dracunculus medinensis worms (aka. Guinea worms) are extracted from a person's body?
The female worm, that's inside the host, forms a blister on the skin to squirt the eggs out of the host's body. To get her out of the host you have to wrap the worm around a stick and twist out a mm each day. And we're talking like 10cm worms! (That's a lot of worm) If you do it too quickly and break the worm, your body releases cytokines causing mass inflammation and ulceration. This has been the means of getting out the worms since biblical times!
Crazy! I'll never look at that symbol the same way...
posted by miss akay @ 8:37 PM
1 Comments:
Um. That is so gross. I will never look at the medical profession the same way ever again. Thanks for sharing the weirdness!
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