About 15 years ago, a remarkable young man enrolled in a freshman level course at California University of Pennsylvania.  His name …..Jim Fedorko.  He ultimately graduated without fanfare but I had seen in him, a genuine curiosity and sincere concern for people in need.  He bounced around, teaching and coaching junior high basketball, a stint in Alaska, and a return to California as a graduate student.  He chose to work with me because of his fascination with parasitology.  Most of my graduate students engaged in bench work, either physiological or parasitological.  The parasitology students were directed by me into ultrastructural studies of protozoans. 

    When Jim decided to work with me, I suggested a similar study.  I couldn’t convince him.  He wanted to work with people, solving ills somewhere in the world.  As egalitarian as it sounded, I warned him that his first choice, working in a  French-speaking country of Africa might be hazardous to his health from a standpoint of going into a disease-ridden country that was politically unstable.  He would not be dissuaded but took my advice and sought out a study in the Philippines, working with Schistosoma japonicum.  He made some contacts and within months was off to Leyte in the Philippines to work with a local physician.  Living in the Philippines was a rude awakening.  Though his village was a short distance from a home owned by Imelda Marcos, and, though he lived with a “well-to-do host”, the conveniences, health care and quality drinking water he enjoyed in America were only memories. 

    His first dinner was somewhat of a formal affair with his host.  However, when drinking water was served at the table that was brown with particulate matter floating about, he knew that he was going to have to make some decisions.  That night, he chose beer.  But, eventually, this former rugby player chose the “manly” route and began drinking from the tap.  After a month of dysentery, he realized his mistake.  He subsided largely on a rice diet and craved mashed potatoes which were costly and unavailable.  At a banquet in a poorly-lit hall, he was passed a bowl of what appeared to be mashed potatoes.  He heaped a generous portion on his plate but after the first bite, realized that he was eating an expensive Filipino delicacy called lichon which was nearly raw pork.  Of course, raw pork is simply not eaten in western society because of the dangers of trichinosis.  He also experienced unusual toilet facilities while he was there.  His host’s bathroom was in a room immediately off the dining room and consisted of a hole in the floor which lead to a pit under the house.  The door to the bathroom was a curtain and toilet paper was non-existent.  Instead, a bucket of water and his hand substituted for toilet paper.  He soon learned to carry toilet paper everywhere he went. 

    On trips to the countryside, he often observed people defecating along the road without embarrassment.  His Filipino driver would delight in beeping at those caught in this delicate posture. This habit of promiscuous defecation only serves to further the life cycle of  Schistosoma japonicum.   His research, however, went on.  He studied infection rates amongst the native rat population.  Most scientific papers would simply refer to the studied hosts with a terse scientific name and numbers.  Behind that data, the real story unfolds.  First, the rats were much larger than our typical city rats.  They also were jumpers and when they were encountered in the field (a likely encounter because of their numbers), jumped higher than his head.  Another problem involved the traps used to capture them.  They were high quality steel traps which were prized by the local people who sold them for salvage.  Thus, he had to use inferior traps which had a lower capture rate. 

    His bathroom in the field was a ground level basin which had to be flushed with the bucket of water he carried with him when the urge arose.  His laboratory had no roof, for he worked in the yard of the clinic that supported him. On one occasion, he needed to travel beyond the area to trap rats.  There were plenty of porters with bicycles fitted with rickshaw-like transports vying for his service.  He hired the porter who first approached him, before he realized that he had very few fingers and NO feet, probably due to leprosy.  However, he found him to be  a competent bicyclist and prompt and trustworthy worker.   Despite the hardships, three months of work gained him the data necessary to satisfy the requirements of his Master of Science degree.  He worked at Walter Reed Institute as a member of the military and research associate.  He has since relocated to New Jersey where he is working in a laboratory setting.
Jim's lab
retrieving traps
field toilet
Schistosomiasis poster #1
Schistosomiasis poster #2
Schistosomiasis poster #3