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Dr. Russell McMullen

Making us safer in a world of potential hurt

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Thomas James Hurst Dr. Russell McMullen contemplates a common intestinal roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), which lives in its human carrier for about a year before it is passed out of the host’s system.

For 20 years, Dr. Russell McMullen has directed the University of Washington's Travel Medicine Service, which sees about 3,500 travelers annually. He's also co-editor, with Elaine C. Jong, of the Travel and Tropical Medicine Manual.

Q: What's the weirdest thing you've seen?

A: We see a lot of botfly infections. It's basically maggots. These flies typically parasitize cattle in Central and South America and also infest people. What's intriguing is their lifestyle. Botflies catch a mosquito and lay eggs. When the mosquito feeds, the eggs drop off the abdomen, hatch, and the larvae crawl into (the person's) skin. They begin to look like a boil. People will go to the doctor, and the doctor will think they have an early abscess and put them on antibiotics and they don't get better. Eventually it gets mature. They're about the size of a lima bean. They have to breathe, so a little tiny blowhole sticks out. It can cause sensations of movement under the skin. Sometimes, you can use bacon to occlude the blowhole and give them something tasty to bore into, then peel it out. Usually, we numb it up and make a small incision with a scalpel. In Central America, they'll blow tobacco smoke into the blowhole.

Q: How much should we worry about avian bird flu?

A: Right now, not much because the number of human cases is relatively small. A small genetic change in the virus could facilitate human-to-human transmission, and then we could have a big problem very quickly. (If you go to Southeast Asia), what you have to do is try to avoid exposure to poultry. Avoid chicken farms or watching them being slaughtered in the market. That's not a reason not to travel. You can't live your life in a hole and not do things.

Q: Where would you go if you had two weeks vacation and money wasn't an issue?

A: I'd take two years, not two weeks, and see all kinds of places and people. I'd like to go to someplace as close to undisturbed as you can get but still have people . . . Papua New Guinea.

Q: Your top three tips for travelers?

A: 1. To prevent diarrhea, be careful about food and water. Make sure food is well-cooked; avoid nonpasteurized milk products.

2. Don't get bitten by mosquitoes because of malaria, dengue and a variety of other diseases.

3. Behave yourself and be a good world citizen. Don't exploit the people and the environment.