I remember Brian telling me about this but had never seen the story until now.
Wildlife photographer Greg du Toit was so determined to capture the perfect image of wild lions drinking he sat submerged in their watering hole for three months.
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In a final desperate effort, the 32-year-old decided to take the plunge and climb into the murky pool with his camera and ended up contracting several tropical diseases.
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It came at a huge price for the photographer who was diagnosed with Bilharzia and contracted several parasites which he soaked up through the dirty water in the drinking hole.
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Mr du Toit was also diagnosed with deadly malaria twice after contracting it through mosquitoes breeding in the pool.
Green and feeling sick from his ordeal, the South African visited doctors who were shocked at seeing the worst test results they had ever recorded.
‘The doctors panicked when they noticed that my red blood platelet count was sky high,’ Mr du Toit said.‘The first real symptom was blood in my urine, which is when I went for blood tests. The blood test confirmed that I had Bilharzia.
‘It’s caused by a type of flatworm which had spent part of its life in water snails and the other part in my liver. It left me weak and in bed for weeks.’
He added: ‘The high red blood platelet count signalled that I was carrying a lot of parasites. This included numerous species of internal worm parasites and a particularly nasty external worm parasite known as Hook Worm.
‘This worm was actually visible under the skin of my foot and would move at night. It became a game to find the worm in my foot each morning.’
After a long stint sick in bed recovering, Mr du Toit was finally given the all clear following courses of powerful antibiotics, pesticides and by spraying liquid nitrogen on the parasites visible under his skin.
Wow. Now THAT is determination.
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