The Organ Shredder

 

- Inner Space - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (episode intro)

CASE 1

- Nine Lives - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Virginia Beach, Virginia/Tim and Emily Peterson have been married for 12 years)

- Working the Plan - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Emily runs a successfull wedding planning business, and Tim is an endocrinologist/the couple also has three children, the youngest of whom is their daughter Ellia)

- Dark Side - Duncan Pittock [Audio Network] ("But this harmoninous family is about to be broken apart by an invisible intruder.")

- Towards Daylight - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (one warm July evening, Emily is sitting down to feed 3-month-old Ellia, but struggles to as Ellia doesn't show interest)

- ? (by the next morning, Emily hasn't heard so much as a peep from her daughter, but she still refuses to nurse)

- Enter the Catacombs - Ron Riddle [KPM Music] (Emily can't explain why her daughter is acting this way)

- Melting Point No Gtr - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (Emily calls Tim, who is at the hospital, but tells her not to worry)

- Next Up - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (when putting her daughter down for an afternoon nap however, Emily notices Ellia trying to make a weak cry)

- The New Apocalypse - Charles Barnett [KPM Music] (Emily continues to try to feed Ellia, but she continues to refuse)

- ? (Emily notices Ellia struggling to move her head and arms)

- ? (Emily calls Tim again, who tells her to take to her the children's hospital)

- Envy 7 - Dan Skinner, Adam Skinner, Simon Skinner [Audio Network] (Emily takes Ellia to the children's hospital)

- Never Easy - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (Tim arrives, and sees Ellia weak)

- Argue Now - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (blood tests come back negative for a viral infection and other types of infections)

- Breeding Contention - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (doctors tell Tim and Ellia that they'll need to expand their tests to rarer illnesses)

- Depressed Drone No Drum - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (over the next few hours, Tim and Emily helplessly watch as Ellia's condition declines)

- ? ("A mysterious illness has left 3-month-old Ellia Peterson in critical condition, and her parents Tim and Emily have all but lost hope.")

- ? (the medical team makes a potential breakthrough)

- ? (doctors believe it could be Guillain-Barré Syndrome)

- Breaking Point - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Ellia's case is turned over to pediatric neurologist Dr. Svinder Toor)

- ? (as Dr. Toor examines Ellia, he notices something strange)

- Panic Attack - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Dr. Toor sees that Ellia has a descending paralysis, rules out Guillain-Barré Syndrome, and by process of elimination, believes he knows what Ellia is suffering from)

- ? (infant botulism)

- Injury - Bruno Pilloix, Lionel Wendling [APM Music] ("When Dr. Toor first said that this is most likely infant botulism, my jaw dropped, and I said to myself "Really? No way."")

- ? ("The neurotoxin released by clostridium botulinum is among the world's most lethal.")

- Age of Tension - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (Dr. Toor puts Ellia on a specialized antitoxin, and for several days Tim and Emily hold vigil at Ellia's bedside as she remains unresponsive)

- Hope Awaits No Drums - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (then, more than a week after being admitted to the hospital, Ellia starts to improve)

- Investigation Tension - Bruno Pilloix, Lionel Wendling [APM Music] (clostridium botulinum spores can be easily inhaled because they attach themselves to dust particles)

- Betrayed - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Boris Elkis [Ah2 Music] (Ellia's gut was not mature enough to handle the spores)

- April Flowers - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (today, nearly 4 years later, Ellia has made a full recovery)

- April Flowers No Dr - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (ending sting of previous track)

- ? (how to prevent infant botulism from occuring)

- Creepy Feeling Str - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Jonathon Beers [Ah2 Music] ("Pathogens like botulinum hide in our food...")

CASE 2

- ? ("...and there are other monsters lurking in the very water we drink."/case intro)

- Staying Afloat - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Kingston, New York)

- On the Way - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Bryan and Michelle Van Wagenen have an infant daughter, Julianna, and enjoy spending time outdoors)

- Building It Up - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (one summer Saturday, Bryan and Michelle head to a local softball tournament)

- Building It Up Syn Mallet - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Bryan notices a blurry spot in his eye)

- Building It Up - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Bryan rubs his eye to try and clear the spot out)

- Mindnumb - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (on the field, Bryan struggles to play due to his blurry spot, and decides not to play)

- ? (the next morning, Bryan is put into immense pain due to the sunlight)

- ? (the following morning, Bryan visits an ophthalmologist, who diagnoses him with iritis)

- ? (explanation of iritis)

- ? (ophthalmologist prescribes Bryan steroid drops, which he takes for four days and appear to work)

- ? (but two days later, Bryan wakes to irritation and pain in his eye)

- ? ("For the past week, Bryan Van Wagenen has been suffering from pain in his left eye."/Bryan goes to another doctor for a second opinion, this one diagnosing him with herpes simplex virus)

- Crime Tension - Bruno Pilloix, Lionel Wendling [APM Music] (doctor gives Bryan the same drops he received before, alongside some antiviral pills)

- ? (for the next few days, Michelle administers the drops, and keeps a close eye on her husband's condition)

- Melting Point - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (Bryan's symptoms start to affect his daily life)

- ? (Bryan's worsening health starts to impact the rest of his family)

- ? (then, one morning, Bryan sees a white spot on his eye)

- ? (within 24 hours, the white spot has spread)

- Determination - Simon Lambros [Audio Network] (Michelle rushes Bryan to an ophthalmologist, who believes Bryan has a bad infection caused by something unknown)

- Drone Wars - Igor Dvorkin, Ellie Kidd [Audio Network] (Bryan decides to see a specialist, and ends up in the office with cornea expert Dr. David Ritterband)

- ? (Dr. Ritterband orders a specialized test called a confocal microscopy on Bryan)

- ? (confocal microscopy reveals something feeding on Bryan's eye/"Corneal specialist Dr. David Ritterband has just discovered something disturbing in Bryan Van Wagenen's left eye."/Bryan has a parasite)

- Hoffmans Risers Tutti 1 - Robin Hoffmann [Upright Music] ("I remember when he told me, I felt like my jaw hit the floor.")

- ? (acanthamoeba keratitis)

- ? ("It probably causes the most severe infection in the cornea that we see.")

- Alien Invader - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] ("One of the most terrifying things about acanthamoeba is its ability to completely change its body.")

- ? (Dr. Ritterband tells Bryan that his infection is serious)

- Buried Secrets - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Dr. Ritterband prescribes Bryan a course of aggressive eye drops that need to be applied every hour for the next 48 hours)

- ? (acanthamoeba is found worldwide in a variety of freshwater sources, and can infect people when contaminated water enters their eye, but 85% of cases occur in people who wear contact lenses)

- ? (Bryan believes he got the parasite on a recent trip to the Cayman Islands)

- Summer Sailing - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (after a week on the eyedrops, Bryan's vision starts to improve, and today, he's back to being a father)

- ? (how to avoid contracting acanthamoeba keratitis)

- Creepy Feeling Str - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Jonathon Beers [Ah2 Music] ("While some monsters will ravage the surface of the eye...")

CASE 3

- ? ("...others will tear our bodies apart from the inside out."/case intro)

- According to Plan No Dr - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Hawthorne, Florida)

- According to Plan - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Katie Harris is a single mother to three children, 11-year-old Kaylie, 6-year-old Elijah, and 5-year-old Liam)

- Anyones Guess - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Katie works as a nursing assistant in an intensive care unit, and is close with her mother, Jeannie, who works as an administrator at the same hospital)

- ? ("But this young mother's life is about to come to a shuddering halt.")

- Indecision - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (one August morning, Katie wakes up to go to work, but feels a tickle in her throat and a cough)

- ? (over the next several weeks, Katie's condition gets steadily worse)

- Buried Secrets - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (finally, Katie goes to see her doctor, who suggests she has bronchitis and prescribes antibiotics, which fail to help)

- ? (then, one afternoon, while at a cookout at her mom's house, Katie feels a sharp pain in her upper right side while bending over to pick up her son)

- Pressure and Time 5 - Igor Dvorkin, Tim Garland [Audio Network] (over the next 48 hours, Katie continues to experience the pain in her right side, and a few days later, goes back to see her doctor)

- Battle of Asculum - Terry Devine-King [Audio Network] (Katie feels a horrible gnawing pain when the doctor pushes on her side)

- ? ("After several weeks of a nagging cough, Katie Harris has begun suffering sharp pains in her side."/doctor believes Katie has a fractured rib, and prescribes her medication to help with her pain)

- ? (but by the end of the course of the drugs, Katie is still in agony, so she goes to another doctor, who does an X-ray that shows no sign of a rib fracture)

- Fanatical Gangs - Doug Bossi, Sarah Schachner [KPM Music] (doctor wants Katie to do a drug test, believing she's just seeking pills, and refuses to give her more medication)

- Hypnosis - Helen Jane Long [Audio Network] (over the next several months, Katie goes to several doctors for help, but all seem to believe it's just a pulled muscle/Katie's pain becomes so severe she's forced to send her kids to her mom's house several days a week)

- Misleading Path - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams [Ah2 Music] (Katie starts to feel like a bad mother, and fears she might die)

- ? (despite her pain, Katie must still support her family, and struggles through her shifts at the hospital)

- ? (one day, Katie feels a piercing, deep pain, and heads to the emergency room)

- ? (Katie notices her urine is discolored, and an ultrasound and CT scan reveal her gallbladder is inflammed and might have a polyp)

- Electronic Warfare* - David Vanacore, Brandon Thompson [KPM Music] (explanation of gallbladder polyps)

- Lunar Eclipse - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (""Finally," I thought "Now I have a diagnosis."")

- Dredge the Water - Cody Johnson [APM Music] (two weeks later, Katie has surgery to remove her gallballer)

- ? (surgeon tells Katie her gallbladder looked like it had been shredded and eaten by something)

- Creepy Feeling - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Jonathon Beers [Ah2 Music] ("Katie Harris has had surgery to remove her gallbladder...but afterwards, she receives some horrifying news from her doctor."/sample of Katie's gallbladder reveals the culprit)

- ? (cystoisospora belli)

- ? ("For there being an actual living thing inside my body eating it, I was just completely terrified.")

- ? ("Cystoisospora is commonly found in the small intestine, where it can cause symptoms like diarrhea.")

- ? (Dr. Ivan Guerrero has done extensive research on the parasite/cystoisospora infects human when they eat or drink contaminated food or water)

- Lost Oracle - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (Katie believes she got infected two years ago, while taking care of a victim of the 2010 Haiti earthquake that had severe diarrhea throughout the day)

- Not As It Seems - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (shortly after her surgery, Katie undergoes tests to determine if the parasite has spread to her other organs, which thankfully come back negative)

- Feather Light - Jeffrey Lippencott, Mark Williams, Kenneth Eberhard [Ah2 Music] (today, Katie is back to her old self)

- ? (how to avoid contracting the cystoisospora parasite)