Adam Brewer was living a great life. To wrap his summer break, Adam went rafting with his friends and enjoyed the great outdoors. Two weeks into his sophomore year of college, Adam’s life took a sudden change. With what he thought was food poisoning suddenly became far more dangerous. Within a few days, his perfect life seemed to be falling apart. Here are a list of some of his personal symptoms and a brief version of the path of Adam took to get a final diagnosis.

Some of the symptoms he showed over time: 

In the middle of class, Adam felt nauseous accompanied by diarrhea. That night he was sweating really bad and felt he had broke a fever. Over the next week, he was still suffering from similar symptoms.

Doctor gave him an antibiotic to take care of a bug that he had known to be going around. Within a few days he feels better.

A few days later, he was having trouble running and being able to catch his breath when playing a game. That night it got worse and he had difficulty making it up the stairs. Thinking he had asthma, he headed back to the doctor. He ordered a chest x-ray which showed he has double-pneumonia. He also wanted to do some blood work to see if anything else was going on. The results came back as highly abnormal the next morning. The doctor called and instructed Adam to get to the hospital immediately.

Once at the hospital, a CT Scan was ordered that showed the fluid around his lungs and heart was contracting it and Adam needed an emergency operation to relive the pressure from the fluid…or he would have a heart attack.

Over the next few days, his heart and lungs kept refilling. They couldn’t stop it. The doctors were at a loss. They continued to run many tests including additional blood tests.

Seven days after he was admitted, his blood came back showing that his white blood cell count was extremely high. They feared he had leukemia. They ran a bone marrow biopsy to confirm and the results were negative. Determined to find answers, Adam’s mother, Peggy, scoured the internet to find a specialist. She did…Dr. Lee Demertzis specializing in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine. She made arrangements and had her son transferred to his care at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

After hearing the evolution of the sickness, Dr. Demertzis suspected he knew what was wrong…but first he needed a blood sample to send off to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). Adam’s shortness of breath continued as they waited for the results. Finally, Dr. Demertzis called them in for the findings.

Final Diagnosis:

Paragonimiasis – an infection caused by the paragonimus parasite. In some cases the body is able to defend itself against parasites, but with infected patients the parasite overwhelms the body’s defenses and duplicates inside the lungs which can cause a deadly buildup of fluid in the chest cavity and shortness of breath. This parasite is usually ingested through under-cooked crustaceans, usually crab or crawfish…most likely the source for Adam on his rafting trip.

What is ahead for him:

An adult parasitic worm can live up to 20 years in an adult and continue to produce eggs. The lungs are a prefect environment. If the parasite hadn’t been found it could have entered Adam’s brain causing paralysis, seizures and even death.

This particular parasite was able to be removed. Adam had to take anti-parasite pills for 2 days, 15 pills a day. Within 2 days, Adam felt better.

Today Adam is healthy and happy….at a 100%. Living life with a new appreciation, Adam and his family have grown closer through this ordeal. With all of this behind him, Adam is now studying to enter the field of medicine himself. Best of luck, Adam!