This is the first time I have ever had this. I am not sure what to make out of it. I can shoot down most theories. I think it may be a reaction to the Malarone.

Looks like it could be pepper ticks.

No,
My feet point straight out.

Some type of braces might help

I had "midge" (chiggers/sand flea?) bites in Zim (Lupane area) that resembled this, but they were not as localized. They were looking pretty nasty a week later and either cleared up rapidly or the Doxy I started took care of things as I suspect.

It is clearing up without treatment.

Might well be chiggers, especially looking at the large mark on your right leg which might have been underneath where a sock is tight.

I never had the slightest reaction to Malarone.

Had something that looked like that, but a shot of penicillin cleared it right up. Seriously, that looks painful.

It was not uncomfortable at all. It was not on the surface. It did not itch.

It sounds and looks like it could be pepper ticks.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I think it may be a reaction to the Malarone.

Wrong guess!! Skin eruptive drug reactions are global, not just in one area unless its a photosensitive response like with Doxy.

That looks like a contact dermatitis from something your body did not like that you walked through.

But this opinion is worth what you paid for it.

On second thought, you've been in Africa....must be Ebola.

the red line essentially stops at the level of your sock or gaiters, so it isn't a drug allergic reaction. contact dermatitis of some sort.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
On second thought, you've been in Africa....must be Ebola.

You're definitely an interesting person. (Sorry about the Mau Mau's on YouTube.) Funny, in a morbid sort of way.

Looks to me like an allergic reaction to plants/burrowing seeds maybe? Capstick once wrote of a client's reacting to grass seeds that stuck in sox and caused a rash.

Cheers! Hope larryshores is better by now.

I've never had a full blown reaction to poison ivy. However I have gotten on occasion what I guess is a mild reaction to it. It looks very similar to what you have , which I think is some irritation caused by a local weed.

Scratched look like the ones i had.

I did have a reaction to a soap one time that resulted in looking like your legs. Using hand cream solved the issue after i quit using the soap.

I take it you were wearing shorts.

I am not sure of the vegetation you were walking through that you may of had a reaction to, however i think you would have been itchy if that were the case.

They appear to be bites of some sort. I am not sure what. I would error on the side of caution. And take a course of antibiotics for tick fever.

Larry,
My first trip to SA, my hunting partner got a rash that looked a lot like that. Hives. They pinned it down to the Mosquito meds he was taking. His was WAY worse than that. Almost 90% of his body. Could be the pepper ticks they are mentioning though.
Damn bud, you're just falling apart. Getting sick on the way, coming home sick. Hurt knee and all.

Looks like me the opening weekend of quail season: I slipped on a steep slope and face planted into a cane cholla.

My first guess was that you had been wading in swampy and warm water. Looks like sneakers and socks, since the rash starts above your ankles, and the rash probably goes up to where the water depth was. Foliculitis is very common when you get nasty water in the hair folicles on your legs for extended periods, and the little bacterium cause a mild infection and reaction.

Probably itches like crazy, and will go away shortly after washing in hot soapy water in the tub or shower and using a soap like Phisoderm or other anti-bacterials.

Larry,
Last month in Dande my PH Blake had this over nearly his entire body..No itch, not uncomfortable
just looked bad, and it was spreading. Doxy actually made it worse for him. The doc then prescribed an antihistamine of soughts, {Phenergen} and this started to work. He got it on a safari down in the south of the country.

cheers

Nick

Larry,

You have a bad case of toomuchplayingitis. This malady can be easily cured by getting your ass back in the office!

Larry:

Some grass types are coated with fluff or minute hairs and some individuals like yourself and our friend Anton (and myself) who prefer to expose our legs and masochistically accept having the skin torn, scratched, etc. do not or rarely feel any discomfort.

The other group who prefer to keep their limbs protected may be more prone to itching effects which will be exacerbated with accumulation of sweat as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
On second thought, you've been in Africa....must be Ebola.

You read my mind !! First stages

Its an allergic reaction to some type of vegetation, most probably grass. I tend to struggle with it, and find rubbing an anti-histamine cream over the infected areas works quite well.

Larry, my guess is Hairy Worm or worms. YOu may find you brushed past a hatch and one of them stuck to your sock a while longer than the one on the leg. They often are up a grass stem etc and you can walk over them without knowing.
They do however generally itch although nothing like poisonous plants.

Where there any caterpilar hatches that you saw at the time? Often grey with black and yellow or just ugly, fat and brown?

I think it is called old age Larry

Thanks all.

I only wore hiking boots and gaiters one day. I wore Keenes the rest of the time, no socks, no gaiters.

The problem I have with the contact dermatitis theory is the location of the condition. It seems virtually impossible to have come into contact with something on the inside of my legs but not the outside of them.

This condition is NOT an exterior rash. It did NOT itch or become otherwise uncomfortable.

Mary Lynn, who is admittedly a hand surgeon and not a dermatologist, thinks it may be a condition that I could not possibly spell. It begins with a "p". She pulled up pictures last night. One of them looked awfully similar. As I understand it, a reaction to quinine can cause this. I think quinine is in Malarone.

The good news is that it has mostly gone away.

Peter, old age? It may be from hanging out with Barth & Karl!

I have that every year when I return from
Africa and it disappears in about a week to 10 days. I will say I have never had it that bad.

Hi Larry

If it is a reaction to Malerone you certainly will found out next time you take it.


Good hunting
CF

I'd say Malorone
I had similar reaction in Zim including bad headache in back of my head

you are turning into an indian

Crotch crickets!

Trichomes on the stem of a stinging nettle is more than likely the cause although it's abit late in the season for this - unless you frequented a marshy/wet area?

Hi Larry,
My wife, hunting partner and his wife all had a similar rash. We were all diagnosed with tick bite fever. The only difference was that our rashes stayed closer to our ankles.

From hunting report, particularly the huge vundu pic -- could have been something in the wet, too. I worked in fish farming and got stuff on my legs that wept and itched a little. I called it " the ich" because catfish get a protozoan infestation called ichthyophthirius that has to be treated. Dry up/heal well!

I would say see a qualified doctor of medicine, and follow his advice. But I tend to cut right to the chase where matters of health are concerned.