<img clbad = "expand-img-vertical" itemprop = "url" src = "https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/06756bca6c979c173ae23c1ba44f60a8fd2bcbee/c=0-0-3024-4032/ local / – / media / 2018/07/27 / USATODAY / USATODAY / 636682690091846678-37831497-10215917462030091-2180491038605443072-n.jpg? width = 534 & height = 712 & fit = crop "alt =" 636682690091846678-37831497-10215917462030091-2180491038605443072-n.jpg "data-mycapture-src =" https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2018/07/27/USATODAY/USATODAY/636682690091846678-37831497- "Data-mycapture-sm-src =" https: // www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/734fac10538d13406c1d7cd31ef155a9e07b4676/r=300×400/local/-media/2018/07/27 Kelli Mulhollen Dumas is seen with his son Michael Michael fighting hookworm for over 40 years. a month after leaving a Florida beach, his mother said. (Photo: Courtesy of Kelli Mulhollen Dumas)

Attention: A graphic picture of the infection with hookworm is here below

A mother worries about her son I said contracted hookworms from a Florida beach, said his first calls to health officials have not been taken seriously.

Kelli Mulhollen Dumas said that his son Michael developed a pain syndrome. The infection on his return from a missionary trip that included time to Pompano Beach on June 18 and 19.

"He was buried in the sand to have fun and it became our nightmare", she posted on Facebook, with graphic images of the inflamed skin of her son.

By Michael's 17th birthday on June 20, he fought a terrifying parasitic infection on his feet and legs. And he always has trouble. He developed a staph infection in at least one foot, his mother told USA TODAY.

Six out of 17 people traveling with his son were infected with hookworms, Dumas said.

Dumas told the US TODAY that she called the Florida Health Department in Broward County on July 16, one week after the doctor confirmed the infection of # 39; hookworm of Michael. Dumas said that she left three messages that went unanswered and finally spoke with a supervisor on July 17, who told her that a warning would not be issued.

Dumas, a dentist for over 30 years, said that she then called the Centers for Disease Control and the main office of Florida Department of Health. The state department told him that they have now opened an investigation and asked to speak to all infected people.

This is a photo of Michael Dumas On July 25, more than a month after being buried in the sand on a Florida beach, His mother said that he had contracted hookworms rather than turning into staphylococcal infection. (Photo: Courtesy of Kelli Mulhollen Dumas)

Candy Sims, a public information officer with the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, said the department was "investigating this investigation," but n & # 39; 39, did not comment further.

Hookworms bury themselves in the skin, causing a red and itchy reaction that can last for weeks until the larvae die and, in rare cases, can ignite the intestines , according to the CDC .

More: Couple of parasitic hookworms contracted to the feet after walking on the beach of Punta Cana

Learn more: more states

"We do not know how long it will take to cure, but he has taken at least six antibiotics against antiparasitic drugs and he will be definitively marked by this situation," said Dumas in the United States. . "I do not want anyone else to have unconsciously the same illness that happened to them."

Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets

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