Besides being a nuisance, parasites cause some really horrific health issues. Now, who makes the really worst list, and what do they do to the human body?
Well, let’s begin with roundworms.
10. Roundworms: Silent Destroyers
Filariasis worms, or roundworms, enter the blood through mosquito bites. Reaching the blood, the worms attack the lymphatic system and create the disease elephantiasis.
Elephantiasis causes severe swelling in the legs, arms, and even the genital area. The skin thickens, thereby making movement very painful. This is not only a physical challenge but associated with social stigmatization and isolation in many developing countries.
One man from Pakistan, out of desperation, had to beg the doctors to amputate his leg because it swelled to 330 pounds. He wasn’t alone. A woman from India couldn’t wear shoes because her feet were so swollen, even from a young age. Imagine never being able to do something as simple as slipping on shoes.
In a rather extreme case, one Kenyan man had to be taken into surgery because of his swollen genitals increasing to an absurd size-11 pounds to be exact.
More locally, in the United States, one man by the name of Wesley Warren Jr. suffered from an immensely swollen scrotum weighing 100 pounds. Shocking to hear, but this is what occurs when roundworms take hold.
9. Hookworms: The Silent Invader
If roundworms weren’t bad enough, let’s talk about hookworms. These tiny terrors live in animal feces and enter the body through the skin. Often people get infected by walking barefoot on contaminated soil.
Just ask Michael DuMars, a teenager from Florida. After his friends buried him in the sand, hookworms crawled into his foot. Months later, even after treatment he was still in pain.
The hookworm lives in the intestines, feasting on the nutrition absorbed by the host. The outcome of this may be symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, and abdominal pain. But the real tragedy is what it does to children.
Kids who have the infection may go through stunted growth of their body and mind because the worm is stealing their nutrition.
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8. Whipworms: Silent but Deadly
Whipworms are no different in their sneaky ways: they invade the body through infected soil, dirty hands, or unwashed vegetables. Once inside, they take residence in the large intestine, creating painful passage of bowel.
Some of the more serious infections result in appendicitis and even rectal prolapse. It’s difficult to imagine, but whipworms have plagued humans for thousands of years.
In fact, microscopic eggs were found in 9,000-year-old feces from Turkey.
7. Toxoplasma gondii: An Enemy to Pregnant Women
Another parasite targeting humans, although its definitive host is cats, is Toxoplasma gondii. This parasite reaches people either by direct contact with infected cat feces or through infected undercooked meat.
It is very dangerous during pregnancy because if infected, the parasite will be transferred to the unborn baby, which may later cause blindness, epilepsy, or severe brain damage.
During a year, roughly 750 people die because of toxoplasmosis in the United States; many of the cases are attributed to contaminated meat.
6. Tapeworms: Long-Term Tenants
Of all parasites, tapeworms are probably the most dreaded. Generally, they come from undercooked pork and beef. The larvae stay in the intestines for years, grow, and lay more eggs without one noticing.
Some tapeworms can grow as big as 30 feet. A five-foot tapeworm was even removed through a nostril of a man after he had been carrying it inside his body for 15 years.
The worst part is that, in extreme cases, the larvae migrate to the brain, leading to seizures or worse. In fact, tapeworms are behind many cases of epilepsy throughout the world; it is suspected that the condition could be a hidden global pandemic.
Think about that: someone may be hosting this parasite inside them without any knowledge for decades.
5. Blood Flukes: Parasites of the Water
Blood flukes are especially fond of standing water and usually infect individuals who swim in ponds or lakes. The flatworms burrow through the skin, and travel via blood vessels to the intestines or urinary tract.
This condition, schistosomiasis is the cause of enormous devastation, ranking second only to malaria. People experience kidney failure, liver damage, and even infertility if the infection is long enough.
Just one of the many shocking cases was from a man in Mexico, where he had flukes attached to his liver. While these parasites are treatable, the effects can last for years especially in places without clean water.
4. Ticks: More Than a Nuisance
Tiny but terrible, the tick is a blood-sucking arachnid-one that can carry a host of diseases inside its body, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Neurotoxins carried by some species are even known to cause paralysis.
In Australia alone, a species of tick has been responsible for deaths; the creature injects venom into its victim that attacks the nervous system.
Ticks attach themselves firmly to the skin, sustaining themselves on the blood for as many days. Some grow grotesquely swollen, their pear-like bodies filling with blood. It’s enough to make your skin crawl.
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3. Pinworms: A Pestering Inhabitants
Pinworms are more common than you think, especially among kids. These tiny white worms cause intense itching around the anus as they lay eggs.
Pinworms spread so easily through contact with surfaces contaminated with them that it’s just so very hard to eradicate them.
For instance, it so happened that in the UK, a case of appendicitis occurred with a girl in her teenage years. Opening her up, they actually found pinworms crawling inside her appendix.
Fortunately, they were able to remove them, but just the idea of worms living inside you gives anyone the heebie-jeebies.
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2. Loa Loa: The Eye Worm
Perhaps one of the most disturbing parasites is Loa loa, or eyeworm. Found in Africa, this worm is spread through the bite of a fly and travels through the body’s tissues, often ending up within the eye.
It can live there for years, causing pain and discomfort.
For one woman in India, the Loa loa worm decided to sit comfortably behind her cornea. It wasn’t easy, but doctors managed to pull it out from behind her eyeball through her nasal cavity.
Flapping its way inside an eyeball is rare; the thought of it isn’t less than close to terror.
1. Screw Worms: Flesh Eaters
Screw worms are the kind of parasites that literally feed on flesh. They lay eggs inside open wounds, and when the larvae come out, they start devouring the surrounding tissue.
One woman, returning from Peru to the UK, had screw worms living inside her ear canal. Doctors needed to remove them carefully because they were burrowing into her brain.
If they hadn’t been in time, they might have killed her. These are but a few of the many parasites that can wreak havoc on the human body.
Whether it is a pinworm or a flesh-eating screw worm, these creatures remind us that sometimes, nighttime monsters are invisible to the naked eye.
Check this Case study for more information- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_3HTXw57-Q
