King Boonen said:
ScienceIsCool said:
MatParker117 said:
yaco said:
I find it strange that WT cyclists who have the best medical care can be affected by Bilharzia for three years. Gee, cyclists do a full battery of tests at least once a year and additionally are tested by the UCI every three months.
This wouldn't be tested for without strong suspicion.
They would test for eggs in the stool. The eggs being laid by
the long dead schistomes that could have had any effect on his performance. The eggs that can't hatch inside the body. If the eggs had any effect, it would have been irritation and inflammation of the lining of his intestines and/or kidneys. Blood in the urine kind of thing. Having this last for three (!!!) years without going to a doctor? Hahahaha. No.
John Swanson
You might want to check that...
Holy cow, you're right! I thought it was just a few months, but apparently it's 2-5 years. However, the notion that they were hindering Froome is still preposterous. This is how the parasite manifests:
http://parasite.org.au/para-site/text/schistosoma-text.html
First you get swimmer's itch. Then you get a fever as you get a histological response to the first eggs. Then you might get a host of problems related to granulomas due to the eggs calcifying in the linings of your organs, intestines, etc. The first two symptoms are transient. If Froome had any of the chronic symptoms they would have been VERY troubling and he would have received medical care.
"Schistosomiasis (or bilharziasis) is unusual amongst helminth diseases for two reasons: much of the pathogenesis is due to the eggs (rather than larvae or adults); and most of the pathology is caused by host immune responses (delayed-type hypersensitivity and granulomatous reactions). The course of infection is often divided into three phases: migratory, acute and chronic. The migratory phase occurs when cercariae penetrate and migrate through the skin. This is often asymptomatic, but in sensitized patients, it may cause transient dermatitis (‘swimmers itch’), and occasionally pulmonary lesions and pneumonitis. The acute phase (sometimes called Katayama fever) is coincident with first egg release and is characterized by allergic responses (serum sickness due to overwhelming immune complex formation), resulting in pyrexia, fatigue, aches, lymphadenopathy, gastrointestinal discomfort and eosinophilia. The chronic phase occurs in response to the cumulative deposition of fluke eggs in tissues and the host reactions that develop against them. Not all the eggs laid by female worms successfully penetrate the gut or bladder walls, many are swept away in the circulation and become trapped in organs where they elicit strong granulomatous responses. Eggs become surrounded by inflammatory cells forming characteristic pseudotubercles, which may coalesce to form larger granulomatous reactions (polyps). The encapsulated eggs die and eventually calcify. The resultant effects on host organs and tissues are manifold, and include intestinal polyposis, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, glumerulonephritis, pulmonary arteritis, cardiovascular problems including heart failure, and periportal (Symmer’s clay pipe-stem) fibrosis. Portal hypertension often leads to hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, ascites, and sometimes gross enlargement of oesophageal and gastric veins (varices) which may burst. Cerebral granulomas have been associated with focal epileptic convulsions, while spinal cord granulomas may cause transverse myelitis. Infections by S. haematobium often cause haematuria (blood in urine) and progressive disruption of the bladder wall may lead to carcinoma."
John Swanson