# 144 Tuesday, May 9, 2006  -  ATTACK OF THE DREADED CANDIRU

There are legends of a singularly vicious little fish in South America
called the candiru, which is said to swim up the urine flow of nude bathers,
entering their bodies. The inch-long member of the catfish family erects its
spines, locking itself into place, after which it drinks the blood from its
victims...

Natives are said to fear them more than piranhas, and recommend a salve made
from two plants, the Xagua plant (genipa Americana, according to Wikipedia)
and the Buitach apple, to kill the fish, and dissolve its remains. Those
ingredients, by the way, may one day have value in the treatment of kidney
stones. Other remedies are more strenuous.

Photographs reveal the fish as a toothpick-sized creature, translucent
(essentially invisible in the murky Amazon River), and a powerful swimmer.
It makes a living by swimming into the gills and body openings of fish and
mammals, after which it does indeed drink their blood. Its affect on humans
is not clear. One scientist who picked up a living candiru claimed it
instantly tried to burrow into a small cut on his finger. References to the
strange fish are found in many places, including Urology 1(3):265-267,
(1973), and a book by Steven Spotte, (Candiru: Life and Legend of the
Vampire Catfishes, 2002), which I just ordered from Amazon.

Whatever the truths about the candiru, a similar intrusion up the urinary
tract (minus vampiric aspects) happens every day to paralyzed people.

If the bladder does not work, catheterization is required: either permanent
(indwelling) or by multiple-daily insertions.

The catheter hose is thin, hollow, flexible. After lubrication it is
threaded (either by the patient or an attendant) deep into the body. The
other end of the hose connects to a plastic bag, hung on the side of the
bed, below the level of the person being helped.

Gravity takes over, and the bag begins to fill.

The inconvenience can be dealt with: just add a couple hours of wasted time
to the schedule every day, for something most folks take care of in seconds.

The expense and infections, however are something else. Single-use "cath
kits" can cost $8-10 dollars apiece-so how many times can we afford to
urinate today?  Imagine a pay toilet in the airport where hurried passengers
had to come up with a ten dollar bill.

To stave off bankruptcy, many paralytics re-use the same catheters, boiling
the tubes, and soaking them in vinegar.

Under such circumstances, urinary tract infections (UTIs) are almost
inevitable.

Sometimes a UTI merely slows down or stops a person for several weeks,
making them dizzy, exhausted, with massive headaches, spasticity, or other
individual symptoms.

But it can be far worse. Here is a letter from a friend, printed with
permission:

"Last month, my 34-year old paralyzed daughter got a urinary infection that
spread to her kidneys.  She developed what is called Systemic Sepsis.  The
infection spread throughout her body and was in her blood stream.

"The infection caused her lungs to fill with fluid and she fought for every
breath.

"She was in ICU for 8 days fighting for her life.  She was so tired and I
thought I was going to lose her. Miraculously, she pulled through.

"I want the people who oppose stem cell research to stop and think about her
and millions of others like her who would benefit from this kind of
research.  Please understand that spinal cord injury is much more than just
not walking...

"Sincerely,

"My daughter's Mom."


There are Congressional battles coming up, during which certain politicians
will take lofty stands on what they call the immorality of stem cell
research. They will say it is wrong to use cells to try and cure paralysis,
even if that prohibition means paralyzed people will never have a chance at
normal life.

I wish there was a way such legislators could understand the impact of their
vote: what it means to have the hope of cure denied.

Maybe they could volunteer to be handcuffed and hogtied for a couple weeks,
so their every need must be taken care of by others. Of course, they would
have the advantage of knowing that someday they would be released. And,
being powerful folks, they would have all the attendant assistance they
need. Paralyzed people have no such assurances.

A single day being paralyzed would not be long enough for them to
understand. It takes a while for the realization to sink in, this is
permanent. The first few days of paralysis can actually be fairly
comfortable: friends gather around, lots of visiting: often no pain, (yet)
and you haven't tried to resume your previous occupation. But then maybe you
try to play checkers with fingers that won't close. Or you try to balance a
key into the lock, and the key drops and you cannot reach from your chair to
the floor.

Imagine our hogtied leaders struggling with the activities of daily life. To
make it realistic, they could get novocaine shots like at the dentist's, to
numb their fingers.

What would they feel like, trying to catheterize themselves for the
restroom, using just the insides of their wrists, because they had no grip?

They would realize these are not one-time heroic struggles: not like
climbing Mt. Everest, posing for pictures and then going home.

The mountains of paralysis must be climbed every day-- in addition to
whatever else your life entails.

There is no way for a non-paralyzed person to ever fully understand. The
closest I can come to it is when I am lying on the couch, and my body
stiffens up, and I want to shift position-what if I could not? What if I had
to just lie there and wait, until somebody came to turn me over?

Permanent paralysis, I would not wish on anyone.

I am not that cold.

But I have to admit, I might not weep too much, if some of the enemies of
research ignored the no-swimming signs, and took a quick skinny-dip in the
Amazon River.

And if one of them did, and the legend of the candiru turned out to be true.

Now, let's see, Senator, what was that remedy? Some plants, I think-oh, yes,
the Xagua plant, and the Buitach apple.

What's that? You want me to get you some?

But I like vegetables, you see, and those are rare plants. It would be wrong
to pick them, don't you agree? Vegetables are a form of life, are they not?

And as a pro-life person, I am not sure my conscience allows me to research
your cure.

By Don Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com

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