Grab on to a list of some of the most dangerous parasites on Earth: Brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri. Naegleria fowleri, also known as brain-eating amoeba, generally grows in warm bodies of water. This parasite can cause brain infection called meningoencephalitis, which causes severe brain irritation.
Researchers may have discovered the most infectious parasite in the world. Toxoplasma gondii is a microscopic creature that scientists believe could infect up to 50 percent of people. The parasite is easily transmittable and is carried for life once a person has been infected.
Giardia is arguably the most common parasite infection of humans worldwide, and the second most common in the United States after pin-worm. Between 1992 and 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that more than 2.5 million cases of giardiasis occur annually.
Of all parasitic diseases, malaria causes the most deaths globally. Malaria kills more than 400,000 people each year, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Hundreds of fossilised animals seemingly covered in worm-like creatures are the oldest hard evidence of parasitism, dating from 512 million years ago when complex animals were still new.
And our latest findings have identified the earliest parasite-host interaction in the fossil record. We examined exquisitely preserved, 515-million-year-old fossils from southern China belonging to organisms called brachiopods (Neobolus wulongqingensis).
Theileria parasites are considered as the smartest among the apicomplexan group for their ability to manipulate the host cells.
For most, it's a short stay, with the immune system evicting the worms in days or weeks and leaving no trace that the parasites were ever there. In a small percentage of people and other animals, though, the worms gain a permanent mouth-hold and can stick around the intestines for years.
About half the world's population (over 3 billion people) are in infected with at least one of the three worms forming what Columbia University parasitologist Dickson Despommier calls the "unholy trinity"—large roundworm, hookworm and whipworm.
The Spirometra tapeworm can live in humans for up to 20 years. A man in China experienced seizures and other mysterious symptoms for years before doctors finally found the cause: He had a rare parasite living in his brain, which had likely been there for more than a decade, according to news reports.
Adult worms may live up to 17 years in the human body and can continue to make new microfilariae for much of this time.
A world without parasites
Without parasites keeping them in check, populations of some animals would explode, just as invasive species do when they're transplanted away from natural predators. Other species would likely crash in the ensuing melée. Big, charismatic predators would lose out, too.
Often they can go unnoticed, with few symptoms. But many times these infections cause serious illnesses, including seizures, blindness, heart failure, and even death.
By definition, parasites are harmful to their hosts. However, some parasitic infections may have protective effects against other diseases, such as allergies and chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) [1]. Specifically, long-term infections with parasitic worms were shown to decrease allergies and symptoms of IBD.
Parasites can live in the intestines for years without causing symptoms. When they do, symptoms include the following: Abdominal pain.
A stool ova and parasite, or O&P, test is a simple way of diagnosing parasite infections. This test determines whether parasites and their eggs are present in your stool. The stool O&P test is a common way to find out if you have parasites in your digestive tract.
The signs of a parasite are often caused by the toxins that it releases into the human bloodstream. Here are the most common symptoms: Unexplained constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea or other symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Any worms in your gut will eventually pass out in your poo. You may not notice this. To avoid becoming infected again or infecting others, it's very important during the weeks after starting treatment to wash your hands: after going to the toilet.
Eat more raw garlic, pumpkin seeds, pomegranates, beets, and carrots, all of which have been used traditionally to kill parasites. In one study, researchers found that a mixture of honey and papaya seeds cleared stools of parasites in 23 out of 30 subjects. Drink a lot of water to help flush out your system.
Seizures and headaches are the most common symptoms. However, confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, difficulty with balance, excess fluid around the brain (called hydrocephalus) may also occur.
Evidence from the lab of Raffi Van Aroian, PhD, shows that short-term human hookworm infection, even at low levels, can cause rapid, acute and measurable cognitive impairments in spatial memory among a mammalian animal model.
Sometimes worms are visible in the anal area, on underwear, or in the toilet. In stool, they look like small pieces of white cotton thread.
About threadworms
Threadworms, also known as pinworms, are tiny parasitic worms that infect the large intestine of humans. Threadworms are a common type of worm infection in the UK, particularly in children under the age of 10. The worms are white and look like small pieces of thread.