Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Creeping eruption: when an invasive worm loves a human face very much

Today's real-life horror comes from the New England Journal of Medicine.  There we learn of a traveler who suffered an unusual infection.  The invader wasn't a microbe, but a worm, and the infection site was the person's face.

A physical examination showed a superficial moving oblong nodule at the left upper eyelid. A parasite was fixed with forceps and removed surgically... The parasite was identified by means of a polymerase-chain-reaction assay as Dirofilaria repens, which is a zoonotic filarial nematode.

You can detect D. repens when it moves close to the skin.  One medical article offers this terrific name for that event: creeping eruption.

She documented the story through selfies, like so:

Infocult: reminding you that nature is Gothic.

(thanks to Steven "Twitchy Eye" Kaye)

Infocult word of the week: "limb pit"

A research team claims to have identified an American Civil War limb pit. 

Now the team has 11 limbs — 10 of them leg bones, and one arm bone.

They all show grievous wounds and amputation cuts. The team believes that battlefield surgeons, possibly at a field hospital set up after the Battle of Second Manassas (also known as the Second Battle of Bull Run), buried the limbs after performing amputations. 

"Limb pit" is quite a phrase. Perhaps Infocult should publish a vocabulary list of keywords.

(thanks to Wife of Infocult)

2000-year-old horror from northern Europe

A recent archaeological dig in Denmark has revealed signs of a horrific battle 2,000 years ago.

The excavation has also revealed new details about the injuries recorded in the boA mass grave in the small East Jutland town of Alken contains the human remains of a battle, where 13-year-old children fought alongside adult men, where the dead were left and ripped to pieces by hungry animals, and where the bones where subsequently collected and treated in the most bestial way.  

Along with the brutality one expects from that period's warfare, there are signs of post-battle mutilation:

The excavation has also revealed new details about the injuries recorded in the bones. Some were sustained during the battle, others by subsequent treatment that may well be associated with a sacrificial ritual at the bog. Skulls were crushed and two deep grooves were cut into the insides of pelvic bones.

"It's hard to imagine an injury like that during battle. We think it must have occurred afterwards," says Hertz.  

 

Cannibalism and tacos in America

An American endured having her foot amputated for medical reasons.  She kept the severed foot, and then, quite naturally, cooked and fed it to her friends.

I invited 11 people. I said something like, “Remember how we always talked about how, if we ever had the chance to ethically eat human meat, would you do it? Well, I’m calling you on that. We doing this or what?” Ten said yes. I guess we’re a weird group.  

(not the tacos from this story)

The cooking method?

[The chef] marinated it overnight and sauteed it with onions, peppers, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Then he served it on corn tortillas with a tomatillo sauce.

The creative food supplier uses the awesome Instagram handle onefootwander.

The article has many juicy details for you to sample.  Here's one that seemed especially gravid with story: "There’s no law against cannibalism in the United States, except in Idaho."

(link via MetaFilter; photo by Cogdog)