36 hours after the bite occurred.
Two and a half days after the bite occurred.
I ended up getting an antihistamine medication and an antibiotic. Simple treatments, such as rubbing alcohol (to cleanse the wound and to cool it, initially, are also helpful., but not sufficient if one is allergic to Leeches, as I am.Over the next few days I will publish some of the Fungi we found on the visit to the Robertson Nature Reserve, with the Sydney Fungal Studies Group.
It is worth noting that the appropriate authorisations were obtained to allow the SFSG to enter the Nature Reserve, and to collect a limited number of specimens of Fungi. Every year the SFSG visits Robertson, and records the species found, and publishes the results.
9 comments:
Hi Denis, thanks for putting me right re the tawny frogmouth - I have a huge learning curve re wildlife.
interesting post re leeches - i have had a similar reaction once - after lots and lots of leeches attached themselves to my legs and I just left them until they finished and dropped down bloated and smiling. It was an interesting experiment - never again!
Never seen a reaction to leaches before. Is that common? Looking forward to the fungi shots. Hope it was worth it ;-)
Tough luck, Denis. Maybe I'm lucky but never had anything but itch on healing from any of numerous leech attacks.
Ouch indeed! Didn't you say that you sometimes lie full length on the forest floor to get photos of the orchids? Don't leeches live where the orchids grow?
Hi Catmint, Mosura, Tony and Mick.
Many thanks for your comments and sympathy.
Obviously I am allergic to the little buggers, and need to be very careful. It is possible I have become "sensitised" to their effects.
Not sure - i will ask the doctor, next time I go there.
Mick, I was fungi hunting, not Orchids. In cold rainforests, we do not get terrestrial orchids - some arboreal epyphites, but one only sees them when a huge tree falls down.
Catmint, I could not endure your experiment, although I know Mosquito researchers who do similar things, in the name of science.
Also, I will have my own Frogmouth photos tomorrow.
Cheers - everyone.
Denis
Glad the effect weren't lasting! I get similar effects with Ticks, even tiny ones that cant be seen. I usually wash myself with Metho to get rid of them and spend the next week as itchy as buggery!
Hope you get good results on your fungal search.
Hi Mark
The fungi were worth the irritation and sleeplessness - just.
I hear nasty stories about the "scrub ticks" on the Northern Beaches - tiny but maybe up to 50 at a time. Fortunately I don't get them here.
Cheers
Denis
Well that is something I have never seen before Denis and it looks a touch painful...ouch. Glad it's you not me as I have been known to walk out of the rainforest with leeches all over me. The worst reaction I have experienced is the itchiness that Tony mentions.
Thanks for your visits to my blog...you are always a welcome visitor mate!
Thanks Russell.
Interesting how some of us react so differently to Leeches.
Your Blog is always interesting, and I admire your persistence in campaigning for the integrity of the beaches.
Cheers
Denis
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