My Mango Disaster
Posted May 18th, 2007 by Valerie MarshallMango, the king of fruit, has betrayed me.
Usually I eat the mid-sized yellow ones with bright yellow-orange flesh inside. But one day I bought a lovely and large yellow-green mango with deep orange flesh at the market to try a new kind. I took it home, and sloppily devoured it, not caring about the juice and pulp smeared across the lower half of my face.
The inside was thicker and tasted a little different but was just as delicious as regular mangoes. I noticed a slight tickling sensation on my upper lip after washing off, but didn’t think much of it. The next day, however, I awoke to an irresistible itch all over my face, nose, and ears. I looked in the mirror and was horrified. My face was swollen, red, and ruddy! My beloved mango had become a forbidden fruit! After two or three uncomfortable days and hydrocortizone it luckily went away.
I still eat the yellow ones but sadly steer clear of any other kind just in case.
Que Lastima!! I got a rash all over my neck and around behind my ears for about a week and had to go get an IV at a clinica. You never know what you can get from what you eat. Now I always make sure to scrub everything with soap and water!
May 18th, 2007 | #
Smooth move, ex-lax. Mango trees are related to poison ivy, poison sumac, and cashew trees. It’s the resin on the skin NOT the pulp that makes you rash out. Have Kevine peel it for you if he doesn’t have a reaction. Some people don’t react at all. Wash your hands really really well after you touch mango skin. You probably wiped the pulp off your face with your hands that had the resin all over them. Africans burn off warts with cashew apple oil. Don’t F with mango skin.
May 18th, 2007 | #
Lindsay, that sucks! Was it from a mango?
Chocobuns - No way. The resin! That’s so weird because I’d been eating mangoes like it was my job before the reaction, touching the skin and everything. Good to know.
Google gave me this excellent answer when I searched “Southeast Asia facial swelling:”
Two cases of facial gnathostomiasis in female Thai patients are described. Gnathostomiasis is caused by a roundworm, Gnathostoma spinigerum. In both patients the disease was characterised by intermittent and migratory swelling of the face. At present no effective therapy is available. Surgical removal of the parasite would be a curative treatment; it is however, rarely successful due to the parasite moving relatively rapidly within the soft tissues.
May 19th, 2007 | #
dude. don’t get me started on tropical diseases. they taught a development medicine class at my school. Wikipedia “guinea worm” and “bot fly”. Don’t do it on a weak stomach.
May 19th, 2007 | #
yeah, i was just gonna post the same thing as chocobuns. i’d bet money it was the skin of the mango that got you. it happened to me in the past, too. i still eat mangoes like there is no tomorrow… but just avoid rubbing the skin all over my face. hope you’re doing better!
May 21st, 2007 | #
A little more info - After talking to a girl in Burma, she informed me that it happens when they inject something into the mango to make it grow faster, and it doesn’t give it time for the poisonous milk to seep out of it. So that explains why some cause a reaction and some don’t! She said if you soak it in water for twenty minutes, the milk comes out and it’s safe to touch.
June 12th, 2007 | #