The world really is getting smaller

I saw this story in the British newspaper, the Telegraph: British couple killed in South African seaside home.

Naturally I was curious so I clicked on the link and read this:

A passerby made the discovery after spotting an apparently unoccupied car which had crashed into a ditch in the town of Hibberdene, around 60 miles south of Durban in sub-tropical KwaZulu-Natal province.

Police called to the scene at around 8pm on Thursday found electrical appliances including a television and sound system inside the car along with the bloodied bodies of Chris and Jennifer Early, 69 and 62, in the boot.

They traced the car back to the couple's home four miles away to find that it had been ransacked.

Mrs Early was reportedly shot in the chest while Mr Early was hit over the head with what police believe was a bush knife, according to local reports.

Police believe the pair were in their house when robbers struck on Thursday and were murdered there before being loaded into the boot of their own car.

The robbers then drove away, police believe, but shortly afterwards lost control of the car and fled on foot.
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Mr and Mrs Early were originally from Britain, but had South African citizenship and had lived in Hibberdene for many years. The town is popular with holidaymakers and famed for its diving, surfing and fishing as well as its four beaches.

I lived in a Catholic monastery in Hibberdene for three years nearly fifty years ago. And there was this picture. See that red-roofed building in the lower right? That used to be the Catholic monastery. In those days there was one small country store, a gas station, a post office and about a dozen houses all clustered around the monastery. The population was about 60. The buildings to the left of the red-roofed building on the other side of the railroad track used to be empty land with a camp-site. All the other buildings in the photo used to be jungle crawling with snakes which I used to collect. Recently I found out that the monastery was sold and turned into a hotel about 20 years ago.














As you can see: that meandering river is silted up at the mouth. The river, like most silted-up rivers in KwaZulu, then becomes less saline and is a perfect breeding ground for the fresh-water snails that live in the reeds on the banks. These snails harbor one phase of the bilharzia parasite which they release into the water. The parasite then enters any open wound (even as small as a cut or scratch) and metamorphoses into a blood fluke which makes you pee blood. It was in that river that I caught bilharzia aka schistosomiasis:

Although it has a low mortality rate, schistosomiasis often is a chronic illness that can damage internal organs and, in children, impair growth and cognitive development. The urinary form of schistosomiasis is associated with increased risks for bladder cancer in adults. Schistosomiasis is the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease after malaria.

This disease is most commonly found in Asia, Africa, and South America, especially in areas where the water contains numerous freshwater snails, which may carry the parasite.

The disease affects many people in developing countries, particularly children who may acquire the disease by swimming or playing in infected water.
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Above all, schistosomiasis is a chronic disease. Acute schistosomiasis may occur weeks after the initial infection. Permanent long-term manifestations include hepatosplenomegaly — the enlargement of both the liver and the spleen, colonic polyposis, portal hypertension and pulmonary hypertension.