A woman has described the horror of feeling hookworms moving under her skin after contracting them on a Vietnam beach.
And the unnamed victim revealed medication only made it worse, leaving her in agony as the parasites tried to flee her body to escape what was killing them.
The 42-year-old, who did not want to be identified, caught the bugs during a three-day vacation at Anh Bang Beach in Vietnam.
Microscopic hookworm larvae – believed to be from animal poo – burrowed into her foot as she strolled across the sand.
She told the Australian Broadcasting Company that she had no symptoms for a week – until she awoke in the night in excruciating pain.
The Aussie recalled: “It was the worst feeling I have ever had, they were swollen, the most intense itching I have ever experienced in my life, swelling, my veins were poking out.”
“I had patches of pin prick-looking blisters all through my toes and that was obviously the point of entry — it was just horrific.”
She added: “I could actually feel movement in my feet.”
The woman said she was baffled by what could be causing the pain until her mother-in-law sent her an article about another couple who had contracted hookworm on vacation in the Dominican Republic.
The Aussie booked an appointment with her doctor and showed him the article – prompting him to confirm the stomach-churning news and prescribe her medication to kill off the parasites.
But if she thought that was the end of the matter, she had another thing coming.
The unlucky tourist said the dying worms started trying to escape her body – causing her symptoms to intensify.
She recalled: “I was crying, like literally crying and could not sleep. It was just horrific.”
The next morning her feet were covered in track marks – which look like veins – where the worms had been burrowing around trying to get away.
Hookworms are parasitic worms that can infect humans in countries with poor sanitation and a warm, moist climate.
The larvae can infect people if their bare skin comes into contact with the soil or sand.
Most hookworm infections occur in Africa, the Americas, China and south-east Asia.