Of Mites and Men (or Woman)

We just had to make sure we were better before posting this but we're now pretty sure things are looking better so......

Bed bugs it seems are still are part of cheap backpacking. A few days after leaving Marakesh Kelly started coming out in spots, first on her hands then back and legs. After several inspections we were pretty sure they were bites but they were continuing to appear after leaving Marakesh and staying in a much better hotel. Chicken Pox was suggested (as was leprosy but that didn't go down to well) but Kel has already had chicken pox and was not unwell. We decided to use the Doctors best friend (time) and wait.

At first it seemed things were getting better but after Fes, on the bus to Chefchaouen things got worse quickly. I'd had a go at finding some bodywash with permethrin in Fes but nobody it seemed had ever heard of it. The spots were now spreading fast and appearing in front of our eyes. We toyed with the idea of heading straight to Spain but after hearing about the Scottish couple mentioned in a previous post we decided to stick it out in Chefchaouen in the hope we could get some help from the English speaking hosts. As soon as we arrived they commented on Kel's spots and we thought it might be time to seek professional help. After all we had tried at a few pharmacies and it seemed they knew nothing of bed bugs.

The Doctor's visit did not go well. His English was nonexistent and our Spanish not good enough to get across our point. By now Kel had quite large welts and it was starting to look a little allergic in nature. He certainly thought it was and offered Kel a shot of cortisone in the backside. I suggested tablets and we got some prednisolone and an antihistamine. Still no permethrin. So Kel tried the prednisolone which helped a little but we were still convinced the cause of the allergic reaction was ongoing bites from some mite. We hit the Internet that night and came up with some other compounds that might help. I suggested oral Ivermectin as a last resort as we'd used that a few times up in Tennant Creek but then realised that whatever we chose we were both doing it as I as probably infected but asymptomatic.

Early the next morning we presented to the largest Chemist in town with our new list, but to no avail. Absolutely determined not to go away empty handed I pointed to the shelf with washing stuff and asked too look at everything. After going though the whole lot we found a few things that looked good and headed home. Taking over our hosts bathroom and washing machine for the afternoon we managed to get just about everything washed. And yes, but the next morning things were definitely on the improve!

Here's a few pics of the now interesting rashes.....