Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease

I once saw a poster in the airport of Freetown (Sierra Leone) that said "Beware of Bigfoot". I thought it funny to see those words in Africa but on closer inspection, found that it was referring to the parasitic disease known as elephantiasis rather than the mystic, mountain creature that we are familiar with here in the Rocky Mountains.

I've always been fascinated with these exotic diseases. Elephantiasis is quite something to see. Spending two years in Africa without seeing a single case of Guinea worm infection was somewhat disappointing, but there are several countries now in Africa where...