Boy's Romp On South Florida Beach Ends With Painful Hookworms

POMPANO BEACH, FL — What was meant to be a 15-minute romp on a South Florida beach for a 17-year-old Memphis teenager on a church trip has turned into a month-long battle with painful hookworms. Now the teen's mother wants everyone to take away her family's hard-learned lesson: Don't walk on the beach without shoes. Hookworm is a thing.

"I just wanted people to know this can happen," Kelli Mulhollen Dumas, a mother and Memphis dentist told Patch in an interview. Hookworms live in contaminated soil or sand. That means they like the beach too.

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An estimated 576 to 740 million people in the world are infected with hookworm, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once widespread in the United States, particularly in the southeast, hookworm outbreaks are much less common now thanks to improvements in living conditions, the agency said.

Some years ago there was an outbreak on Miami Beach, which was traced back to feral cats, according to the city's Melissa Berthier. Officials in the resort city addressed the problem by putting up temporary signs and stopping people from feeding cats in the affected area.

"Now there are cat feeding zones that are enforced by Code Compliance," Berthier told Patch.

Mulhollen Dumas said she contacted the Florida Department of Health in Broward County but got what she considered to be an eyebrow-raising response, at least at first.

A woman in the health department told her: "Everyone knows that you can't go barefoot on the beach. You are supposed to wear shoes," the mother recalled of the exchange, which made her even more upset.

Hookworm eggs are passed in the feces of an infected person or animal, according to the CDC, which said that hookworms live in the small intestine of infected people.

"If the infected person defecates outside (near bushes, in a garden, or field) if the feces of an infected person are used as fertilizer, eggs are deposited on soil, they can then mature and hatch, releasing larvae (immature worms)," the agency said. "The larvae mature into a form that can penetrate the skin of humans. Hookworm infection is mainly acquired by walking barefoot on contaminated soil. One kind of hookworm can also be transmitted through the ingestion of larvae."

The latter may not be as common, but beachgoers have been known to set their shoes aside and wiggle their toes in the warm grains of sand as one of life's little pleasures.

Seven people, including six teens and one adult from the White Station Church of Christ group in Memphis have now come down with hookworms following their brief visit to the Pompano beach on June 18.

"My son's is the worst case," Mulhollen Dumas said of Michael Dumas, who celebrated his 17th birthday two days after his visit to the beach. "Hundreds of worms in my baby."

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County told Patch that officials are looking into the Pompano Beach incident.

The office issued an informational press release late Friday afternoon confirming that officials had received reports of four animal-associated hookworm cases.

"An investigation into these reports is ongoing," Broward health officials said.

"Residents and visitors are reminded to avoid walking barefoot and to use beach towels where animal waste may be present," according to Broward health officials. "Keep children and pets from ingesting soil or sand. Residents are also reminded to regularly give their pets veterinarian-recommended medication to prevent infection with worms, properly dispose of pet waste, not walk their pets on the beach, not feed stray animals and avoid areas with stray or wild animals present."

Broward health officials added that the signs and symptoms of hookworm include itching and a localized rash.

"Animal-associated hookworm infections typically only involve the skin, but can be very itchy and can persist for several weeks if untreated," according to Broward health officials.

Most people infected with hookworms have no symptoms. Some have gastrointestinal symptoms, especially if they have been infected for the first time, according to the CDC.

The most serious effects of hookworm infection are blood loss leading to anemia and protein loss. Hookworm infections are treatable with medication prescribed by health care providers, according to the CDC.

Mulhollen Dumas said her son has painful blisters and can't wear shoes. To make matters worse, he can't practice with his high school football team.

"He has open wounds. They blister up. You can't touch them," she said. "You can't go outside. They have to pop by themselves and heal. He has to take a bath every day in a half cup of Clorox bleech in his bathwater and soak for 10 minutes ... three times a day."

Michael Dumas visited a beach in Pompano in June and was still battling painful hookworms more than a month later. Photos courtesy Kelli Mulhollen Dumas.