Sacred Haven of Debauchery

The parasite enters the human body orally: when consuming water containing copepods infected with Ryshta larvae. Once inside the human body, the Ryshta larva gnaws through the intestinal wall and enters the lymphatic vessels, from where it penetrates into the body cavity, undergoing two successive molts and reaching sexual maturity. After mating, the males die, and the females migrate to the skin, where they localize in the subcutaneous tissue. There, the females continue to grow and reach a length of 80 cm. When the infected area of the skin comes into contact with water, the female protrudes the anterior end of her body and releases numerous larvae into the water, which must infect a copepod to complete the cycle.

Large nematodes inhabiting the subcutaneous tissue lead to the formation of easily ruptured, itchy pustules. The main danger is secondary infection of the wound.

Currently, only surgical methods of treatment exist. The traditional method, described in an ancient Egyptian text from the middle of the second millennium BC, consists of extracting the parasite through an incision in the skin, during which the worm is slowly wound onto a rod. The procedure takes a very long time – up to several days. This is done as a precaution to prevent the worm from breaking and toxic pseudocoelomic fluid from entering the wound.