Rickettsial

I was called with the diagnosis: something rickettsial. This is nothing to do with rickets; my bones are ok. Rickettsia is a genus of bacteria that, according to Wikipedia, 'are transmitted by numerous types of arthropod, including chigger, ticks, fleas and lice. None of this is surprising as South Sudan is crawling with such beasts. I feel different though to when I once got tick bite fever in Swaziland, as there we were having to wrench the pesky buggers off us; fat with our own blood. I haven't had to pick any ticks from me in South Sudan, but we are constantly bushwhacking, wading through streams and staying in places with infestations of bats and rats. After some very thick vegetation I remember once getting some cuts that refused to heal, almost like the plant or whatever was living on it had imbued the wounds with something that prevented healing. Generally I think South Sudanese tropical illnesses will remain mostly as medical mysteries.

Berry had started an MPhil in Conservation Leadership, which is a prestigious course at Cambridge, drawing a small but very international group of candidates. He and Helen hosted drinks at theirs, which I tagged along to, as those of us who work for other conservation organisations encounter the students periodically during their course. I chatted to a South African about the escalating threat to wildlife in the Serengeti and a Papua New Guinean about the cost of living in Port Moresby.

Kate has given me her Netflix password. Cue starting to watch Les Miserables at midnight.