this is gross (a thread about PARASITES)

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/FAQ_cuterebra.htm

Why is this gross? Because a coworker just told me one of his friends had one of these ON HIS FACE for two weeks.

how did anybody ever pear the site of him

orange you glad you opened this thread?

It is very important to NOT squeeze the skin in hopes of getting the larva out. This can cause the larva to break apart, and cause the host animal to have a chronic infection or perhaps an anaphylactic reaction

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.

There was a BBC show a few years ago on parasites that featured a lady who had a botfly on her scalp.

The larvae make a small hole in the skin to breathe. This is when the parasite is usually discovered; a noticeable lump in the skin with a small hole. The tip of the larve will often be visible deep in the hole. Roughly 30 days later, the parasite exits the animal host, pupates on the ground, and becomes an adult fly.

In order to get rid of it they had to cover the hole with tape and suffocate the thing. She could feel it wriggling on her head as it died. After it died they cut her open and removed it. She brought it home in a little canister.

So gross but also AWESOME. I couldn't stop watching although admittedly I did so 1/2 while covering my eyes with my hands.

This thread needs a youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23eimVLAQ2c

thread does not need a youtube. text is probably TMI as it is.

oh wow

Urgh urgh urgh I am now... No no noooooo. Dan, you SUCK (larvae).

"You've got a cuterebra"
"Thanks, glad you like it!"

uullaaaggghh

I hate worms. An hour ago some girl was in the shop and I could see on the back of her cardie that there was a tiny worm crawling around. She left before I could explain which would be useless since she didn't speak enough English.

As awful as it is I love this stuff so much. That BBC show also featured:

- parasite from river in S. America that jumps into the urethra of men when they pee in the water. It's attracted to the urine.
- a man who intentionally ate a tapeworm just to see, you know, what would happen. He then waited for it to erm come out, caught it in a pasta strainer, cleaned it off and then stretched it accross his lawn to demonstrate how big it was. It was ENORMOUS.

that man has issues

also that urethra parasite is the stuff of NIGHTMARES

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/DeerBotFlyReaumur.jpg/389px-DeerBotFlyReaumur.jpg

Tapeworm dude - I think he was part of the show so he was probably getting paid for it but yeah still.

Urethra parasite hooks itself in there once settled and has to be removed surgically iirc.

caught it in a pasta strainer

I imagine you can turn this into a flash game, situate it across the top of major internet websites, and reward winners with $1,000,000 in cold hard internet cash

Sometimes I seriously regret not having gone to medical school and studying tropical diseases and or freaky parasites. That's a major, right?

x-post It looked exactly like linguine tbh.

I am not watching tht youtube

I've heard scientists claim that the reason why more and more people are suffering from allergies worldwide is cause we're eliminating parasites from our systems and our immune systems are overreacting as a result. there was a scientist who intentionally infected himself with a ringworm or hookworm or something, and claimed it cured his asthma.

See?! Even as just a theory that's fascinating.

MORE PARASITE STORIES PLEASE.

OH MY FUCKING DAYS

I did not need to watch tht youtube

looked pretty satisfying pulling it out tho, it must be said

LOL you couldn't resist.

"I have a PhD in freaky parasites"

never leave the house

tbh my favorite may be the guinea worm.

Once a Guinea worm emerges a person must wrap the live worm around a piece of gauze or a stick to extract it from the body. This long, painful process can take up to a month.

pro tip: don't GIS guinea worm

your favourite

oh yeah it must have been hookworm (xposts). wikipedia says

Hookworm in therapy

Moderate hookworm infections have been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on hosts suffering from diseases linked to overactive immune systems. This is possibly explained by the hygiene hypothesis.[20] Research at the University of Nottingham conducted in Ethiopia has demonstrated that people with hookworm infections are half as likely to experience asthma[21] or hay fever.[22] It may also help sufferers of multiple sclerosis,[23] Crohn's Disease[24] and diabetes.[25]

Hookworm therapy to treat a number of these diseases is currently in the trial stage at the University.[25] Some people, including Dr. David Pritchard of the University of Nottingham, and Jasper Lawrence of Autoimmune Therapies, have independently infected themselves with hookworms and reported positive results.[26]

had a gummi worm attached to the bottom of my shoe once

i've purposely infected myself with gummi worms on a number of occasions

AHHH the guinea worm extraction method is horrible! Ahhhhh.

caught it in a pasta strainer

yeah, this is really the nicest way to say this, isn't it.

the guinea worm- i think i saw one of these being extracted- they held a piece of meat to the entry wound for it to bite on before wrapping it round a stick. very cool

My immune system is currently overacting and manifesting itself in this weird inflammatory eye thing I've had for about a year now. They can't find an underlying cause. Maybe I need parasite therapy.

OK no. I like learning about this crap but the thought of actually intentionally giving myself a parasite if pretty freaking awful.

x-post Yes, I was trying to be delicate there Darragh.

that's optimistic, given the pst 25 mins on this thread.

caught it in a pasta strainer

Thing is, he probably spent days beforehand dumping in the kitchen strainer before the beast cut loose.

Imagine the snotty notes from your room mates.

hahahahaha

My old boss had malaria but I now know that's pretty common for anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in Africa. It was weird at first to hear him talk about it. Oh, that's just my malaria acting up nbd.

does he get to prescribe himself a lot of gin and tonics?

that's the excuse I use

He was a teetotaler. Wasted opportunity to drink massive amounts of G&Ts though - you're right.

do you just 'pass' (pass-ta, lol) a tapeworm, though? don't they normally stay in there?

that's what gerbils are for

IIRC he was getting married soon and his fiance made him promise he'd get rid of it before the wedding/honeymoon. He took some sort of medicine or something that killed it so that his body would expel it. Since he had intentionally ingested it I'm sure they knew exactly what organism it was and what would destroy it.

Jesus Mary and Joseph.

I was sad to find out that the 'make a person with a tapeworm fast and it'll crawl out of their mouth' thing isn't true, but it seems that the reality of this kinda thing is way worse.

My favorite tapeworm story is the one by the guy who ended up in some kind of public restroom somewhere b/c he couldn't get home before the medicines kicked in.

omg

that's your favourite tapeworm story?

"If treatment does not get rid of the tapeworm's neck and head (scolex), the whole tapeworm can grow again."

not sure how to respond to this, other than '!'.

You would think he would have waited to take them somewhere more convenient like at home once already in the bathroom. Then again I guess it could be the kind of thing that needs to be administered in a hospital/dr office. idk.

tapeworms are seriously the worst fucking thing in the world

except of course for the thing that goes up your urethra

btw - I've heard that botflies will sometimes lay their eggs up the nostrils of cows - and when it hatches the cow DIES because there's a LARVAE eating its BRAIN

mixtapeworms

Uretha fish parasite: Yet it wasn’t until 1997 that there was finally documented proof. While standing in the Amazon River, a Brazilian man experienced a candiru entering through his penis while urinating. Unable to remove it himself, he had the candiru surgically removed at a hospital. But by that time the parasite had eaten its way into the man’s scrotum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru

bah xp

Also I was wrong about them being attracted to urine. "Though there is no proof that candiru have a human urine fetish, the widening of the urethra during urination does give the parasite easier access to the orifice." That makes more sense tbh.

so how about them fungus parasites that brainwash ants. Just freaky rather than O SHIT, I guess. If they were directing sharks to the tops of trees and bursting out of their skulls it'd be more impressive.

Burroughs on candiru:
"the candiru is a small eel-like fish or worm about one-quarter inch through and two inches long patronizing certain rivers of ill repute in the Greater Amazon Basin, will dart up your prick or your asshole or a woman's cunt faute de mieux, and hold himself there by sharp spines with precisely what motives is not known since no one has stepped forward to observe the candiru's life-cycle in situ..."

By the way am pretty sure Dan Perry has fainted after reading about the scrotum eating fish. Maybe we should call for help.

I did not faint but I did go "oh that is just not right"

lol

don't piss a candiru off - they get testy

oh dear. I actually groaned.

that was balls

give that man the sack

http://fray.com/drugs/worm/

Now with 100% cuter illustrations!

NYC's RadioLab podcast had a story about a entymologist who ended up with a botfly in his scalp. They are SO so gross. Except this freaky dude got all attached to it and tried to keep it alive after it escaped his head. AGH!!!

Our high school science lab had a jar with a tapeworm from a cow's stomach in it. I do not like tapeworms.

home tapeworms are killing science labs

this is a really good book about parasites:
http://www.bioquip.com/prod_images/3779B-001-Parasite-Rex.jpg

(hides)

There's a lot of paperwork involved in the removal of red tapeworms...

http://www.astsports.com.au/data/website/Image/Cricket/Ashes%202009/eiffel-tower-day.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDG7WPtVO4

What do you ppl think of Animal Planet's all-parasite series 'MONSTER INSIDE ME'?

Wife and I discovered it while visiting my Mom (who has cable) and could not stop watching. E.G. there are these flukes which get into your system if you accidentally ingest trace amounts of animal fecal matter. They wriggle their way to your brain, where they then assume their "cyst" form, after which they are totally unkillable without brain surgery, and you have to reconcile yourself to having dormant spherical parasite in your brain for the rest of your life.

Also learned a lot about the Milwaukee Cryptosporidium epidemic-- terrifying stuff.

I have that book... Truly freaky. If I were in any way paranoid it would make me deeply afraid of every other living thing on the entire fucking planet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_-JzM-YQg

WORM CHEESE

Wasn't that parasite doco the one momus was in as well?

I don't know why I keep checking this thread. Blarg.

Here's the story from the guy who intentionally infested himself with hookworm to cure his asthma. Apparently it works for IBS and Crohn's too.

Does reading this thread make anyone else itchy?

no, but it does make me think about people who can't seem to keep themselves from self-destructive behavior, and wonder if there's some parasite involved that we don't know about

it makes me not want to eat or ingest anything, ever...or go anywhere ever again.

W@W at the hookworm dude. I have mild asthma and I smoke (albeit lightly). his story is making me strongly consider quitting so that I don't spend my mid-30s walking barefoot in African shit.

The latest Radiolab episode grossed me out so much I could hardly listen to it. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/09/25

stop posting botfly videos I have to click them and I do not enjoy it one bit

You should activate your computer's parental controls

http://i.imgur.com/i7UmTbT.gif

aaaaaaarrrrrghhhhhhhhh

ty 4 nightmare fuel

Looks like one of these guys that replaces the fish's tongue http://i.imgur.com/SDrWeIx.jpg

jesus christ

key-rist!

What is that, a leech?

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found his tongue transformed in his mouth into a gigantic insect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/the-parasite-that-just-shut-down-a-montana-river-has-an-unbelievable-origin/496817/