5 most disgusting human parasites

1. loa loa

Where does it live: in West and Central Africa, in particular - in the territory of the Congo, Gabon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and northern Angola.

Let's start right away with something as appetizing as possible. Loa-loa is a nematode worm up to 70 mm long and 0.5 mm thick. This parasite dwellsH. mehlhorn. Encyclopedic Reference of Parasitology: Biology, Structure, Function in the subcutaneous adipose tissue of their hosts, and also loves the eye protein very much. Loa-loa also parasitizes in the bodies of baboons, monkeys and some rodents. It is carried by horseflies with bites.

Worm shapesLoa Loa - Eye Worm / Subcutaneous Filariasis around them are specific edema and tumors on the skin of the carrier - sometimes they reach the size of a chicken egg. It also evokes strong conjunctivitis.

If the loa loa is large enough, you can see how it moves and wriggles in the eye.

The worm is removed both surgically and with special anthelmintic preparations. And remember that if you take your time with your medications and going to the doctor, loa loa maybeH. mehlhorn. Encyclopedic Reference of Parasitology: Biology, Structure, Function live in the human body up to 17 years.

Prevention:not liveLoiasis - Epidemiology & Risk Factors / CDC in the tropical forests of West or Central Africa. Well, or at least not visit them during the rainy season, when horseflies and mangrove flies are especially rampant. Do not burn fires, because these insects are attracted to smoke.

2. Negleria Fowler

Where does it live: in dirty warm waters around the world, especially in hot springs and reservoirs near power plants and factories. Negleria Fowler was first discoveredNegleria Fowler / Medical Internet Conference Bulletin in Australia, then came to the USA, as well as to Belgium, England, New Zealand, India and Mexico.

This parasitic protozoan also bears the telling name "brain-eating amoeba". Unicellular penetratesA. M. Baig. Pathogenesis of amoebic encephalitis: Are the amoebae being credited to an ‘inside job’ done by the host immune response? / Acta Tropica into the body through the nose along with water when bathing. Then it, moving along the olfactory nerves, enters directly into the brain, where it begins to actively multiply, populating all its departments.

Approximately one week after infection, a person feelsBrain‑Eating Amoeba: What to Know / WebMD symptoms such as fever, headache and nausea, and it becomes difficult for him to move his head. As the infection progresses, inattention, incoordination, seizures, and hallucinations develop. It ends in coma and death.

This disease is called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or non-gleriasis.

The disease is almost always fatal. Around the world knownPrimary Amebic Meningoencephalitis - Arizona, Florida, and Texas / CDC about seven cases where the infected survived and healed without neurological damage - why this is still unclear. There are drugs for Fowler's negleria, but they mostly only slow down the course of the infection.

Prevention: do not swim in dirty water. And if you still really want to, first put on a scuba gear and an insulated mask with air supply from a cylinder.

3. Trichinella

Where does it live: around the world where the meat of pigs or carnivorous animals is consumed, especiallyb. Gottstein. Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control of Trichinellosis / Clinical Microbiology Reviews in China, 10,000 people are infected there every year, and about 200 of them die.

Trichinella are roundworms that parasitizeD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology in the muscles of carnivores. They mainly prefer omnivorous pigs, as well as foxes, wolves, bears, skunks, raccoons, rats and other small mammals.

Infection with trichinella is fatal and is called trichinosis. People get it by eating infected meat, most often - pork, but sometimes some exotic like bear meat.

For example, the famous Swedish polar explorer Salomon André became infected and died in 1897 after tasting a polar bear.

Once in the human body foodD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology, males and females of Trichinella begin to multiply in the small intestine. After fertilization, the former die, and the latter produce larvae - this process can last up to 6 weeks in a row.

juveniles penetrateD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology through the intestinal mucosa into the blood vessels and spread throughout the body. They settle in the muscles, forming calcified capsules around them, and live there for many years, causing fever, chills, coughing, severe pain throughout the body, in the head, muscles and joints.

If the parasite enters the central nervous system, respiratory tract, or vital organs such as hearts, then gradually kill the owner.

Naturally, surgically cutting out all the worms, given that they can fill up to 15 thousand per 1 kilogram of muscle tissue, is in principle impossible. Reproduction and growth of larvae suppressb. Gottstein. Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control of Trichinellosis / Clinical Microbiology Reviews special preparations, but a full-fledged treatment for trichinosis is not yet available.

Prevention: eat the meat of pigs that were kept in clean pens with concrete floors and not free range. Thoroughly prepareTrichinellosis - Epidemiology & Risk Factors / CDC it at a temperature of at least 74 °C. Do not eat wild animals without thoroughly testing them for worms.

4. Gadflies

Where do they live: around the world, except polar latitudes.

Even those flies that periodically fly to you from the veranda can reward you with many unpleasant diseases - for example, diphtheria and tuberculosis. In addition, they endureD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology eggs of various worms and cysts of parasitic protozoa. And that's not to mention those tropical tse-tse cuties who can infect with sleeping sickness.

But on our long-suffering planet, there are also much more severe flies that simply amaze the imagination with their disgusting ways to procreate.

So, different types of gadflies are capable of saveD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology eggs under human skin so that the larvae feed on the tissues of the host. In adulthood, these guys do not have a mouth apparatus. They fatten up in their youth, crawling under the epidermis and in the mucous membranes of their victims, creating terrible tumors that resemble large eels.

And sometimes, when the owner accidentally swallows the eggs of gadflies, they can grow in his intestines and in other internal organs, where they will be carried by the bloodstream. Sometimes the larvae destroy tissue to the bone, causing severe pain, necrosis and gangrene.

In addition to gadflies, such bullying are engagedD. T. John, MSPH, PhD, W. A. Petri, Jr. MD, PhD. Markell and Voge's Medical Parasitology Wolfart flies - these generally can lay hundreds and a half eggs at a time on the mucous membranes of the victim. For example, in the nose and mouth.

Prevention. Cleanliness and meticulous hygiene bring downL. S. Roberts, J. Janovy. Foundations of Parasitology the probability of infestation with fly larvae is practically zero. Install mosquito nets and insect curtains in living areas, use fly traps, and do not leave food unattended in the open air. If you go to nature in places where gadflies are found, wear tight clothes.

5. Tapeworms

Where does it live: around the world, wherever their owners wander.

ExistsT. C. Cheng. General Parasitology There are more than 6,000 species of these parasites, and they infect almost all vertebrates. The most famous of them that live in humans are pork and bovine tapeworm, tapeworm, echinococcus and alveolococcus. The latter got its name because it parasitizes in the lungs.

Mainly tapeworms settle downT. C. Cheng. General Parasitology in the intestines: they are fixed there with their hooks and suckers on the head and grow a long body - a real factory for the production of eggs. The size of these disgusting creatures is impressive.

The same bull tapeworm, parasitizing in a person, can grow up to 20 meters, and the whale tapeworm - these, fortunately, do not contact people - can reach up to 40.

Most tapeworms are made up of segments, like links in a chain. Their segments periodically fall off the tail, setting off on a free journey to spread eggs and larvae along with feces.

In addition, worms hermaphroditesW. b. Pratt. The Antimicrobial Drugs, which fertilize themselves, so even a single individual can reproduce extremely efficiently. For example, a bovine tapeworm produces 600 million eggs per year, and for a lifetime (18–20 years) - under 11 billion.

If you think that there can be nothing worse than a twenty-meter monster clinging to the inner wall intestines and eating its contents, you are mistaken.

If the larva of the worm with blood flow will fallT. C. Cheng. General Parasitology not into the intestines, but somewhere else - into the muscles, skin, eyes, heart, brain - it will quickly realize that there is nothing to catch. And eventually pupate, creating a cyst. The calculation is simple: when the host dies, someone will eat it, and then the worm will enter the stomach of the next host.

Particularly severe tapeworms, such as echinococcus, can form cysts sizeT. C. Cheng. General Parasitology with the head of a baby, in which many individuals live at once. Having settled in the brain, lung, liver and kidneys, they are quite capable of completely destroying the affected organ and causing necrosis with a fatal result for the carrier.

Parasites that have entered the intestines successfully treatW. b. Pratt. The Antimicrobial Drugs anthelmintic drugs, but cysts have to be fought with surgical methods. And there, how lucky: the parasite is quite capable of not showing itself for years, until the cyst grows to an indecent size.

Prevention: cleanliness. Wash your hands with soap before eating. Refrain from eating food in places with poor sanitation and visiting countries with low standardsWorms in humans / NHS food hygiene.