'Fire snake' crawls from the medieval saint's leg

Italian researchers found the earliest description of worm disease only when studying a medieval painting.

According to research published in the Journal of Infections, worms were first mentioned in a 15th-century painting in the gallery Pinacoteca di Brera in the Puglia region of southern Italy, Live Science on 17/7. 3 coverage.

The rare painting belongs to the post-Gothic art school in Puglia, painted Saint Roch pilgrimage to France in the 14th century, believed to be the healer for victims of wormworms and he himself became infected."Saint Roch has a ganglion in his thigh," said paleontologist Raffaele Gaeta at the University of Pisa, Italy.

The medieval painting depicts a worm that only comes from the mouth of the wound on the foot of Roch.(Photo: Raffaele Gaeta).

In the painting in Bari, in the region of Apulia, the saint is a bearded man with swelling in his left thigh and the left sock is pulled down."However, the picture has a realistic detail of a small, white worms crawling out of the wound's mouth and crawling down to the knees," Gaeta said.

Art historians have mistakenly assumed that this detail is a drop of latex flowing from the wound, emphasized Gaeta."We firmly believe the artist painted an ancient case of worms , an infectious disease caused by the famous Guinea worm larvae , " Gaeta and colleagues Fabrizio Bruschi and Valentina Giuffra reported in the study.

The Dracunculus, or Guinea worm, causes epidemics for thousands of years, mentioned in the Old Testament, dating back to 1450 BC. The medical book Ebers Papyrus of Egypt, which was born in 1550 BC, shows how to roll a worm around a stick to remove it from the patient's body and this method still applies today.

Parasitic researchers believe that the "fire snake" is mentioned in the Bible, the source of disease for Jews leaving Egypt, possibly the Guinea worm. The epidemic spread in the Middle East at that time.

"Worms do not cause victims to die but can be disabled," Gaeta said. "This parasite is nicknamed" fire snake "because it causes severe pain when passing through the skin."

Although there is no record of this disease occurring in Italy, it is possible that the anonymous painter painted a picture of the parasite in the wound of visitors to Bari, an important seaport for those who want to to the Middle East, especially Syria and Palestine."The painter painted a long white worms and small bodies crawling out of his feet under realism , " Gaeta said.