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> They believe the patient was probably infected with the parasite directly from touching the native grass or after eating the greens. After reading this, it g
by heywoodlh 3y ago
> They believe the patient was probably infected with the parasite directly from touching the native grass or after eating the greens.
After reading this, it got me wondering how parasites actually get into the human body if not directly ingested, as that seems fairly straightforward. That led me to this interesting snippet[0]:
> Parasites usually enter the body through the
- Mouth
- Skin
> Parasites that enter through the mouth are swallowed and can remain in the intestine or burrow through the intestinal wall and invade other organs. Often parasites enter the mouth through fecal-oral transmission.
> Some parasites can enter directly through the skin. Others are transmitted by insect bites.
> Rarely, parasites are spread through blood transfusions, in transplanted organs, through injections with a needle previously used by an infected person, or from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
Now, my remaining questions: how and why does a parasite navigate the body? For example, how did the parasite in this article likely begin in her digestive system and end up in the brain? Do they swim aggressively (yuck)? If so, does their destination matter to them?
[0] https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/infections/parasitic-infections-an-overview/overview-of-parasitic-infections https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/infections/parasitic-infec...
- dosssman 3y agoThis reminded me of a Dr House episode where the patient somehow ingested tape worm eggs, which managed to make their way into the brain, thigh muscle etc... through blood, then hatch there. Looks like it is referred to as Neurocysticercosis [0]. The parasite does not necessarily chose where it might end up, so it is up to luck. The victim probably ingest a bunch of eggs, which will find their way into different parts of the body, with different level of survivability. The brain does look like a cosy place to survive. [0] https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/neurocysticercosis https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/neuro...
- springogeek 3y agoThe episode of House in question is, in fact, its pilot :) Very good show. Not sure how often they handled parasites, interestingly.
- Mawr 3y agoAt least two more episodes: S03E04 & S0403. Probably a good way to find more: https://house.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_medical_diagnoses https://house.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_medical_diagnoses
- gs17 3y ago> If so, does their destination matter to them? Not an expert, but it definitely does. They can be incredibly specific in how they do things. I got a bad case of swimmer's itch after kayaking and it turns out it's from a parasite's larva. In a bird, it would go in through the feet, get into the circulatory system, mate inside the circulatory system, get their eggs into the bird's gut and let them be pooped out where they then need to do another process in a snail. In a human, they just get stuck in your skin and cause an immune reaction.
- heywoodlh 3y agoThis brings up a follow-up question: how do the parasites know where to go? For example, the parasite in this article has never been observed in a human before -- yet it knew how to navigate a human's body well enough to get to the brain. That's some pretty impressive adaptive navigational instinct.
- swores 3y agoThey'll be responding to things like temperature, ph level, etc. since they don't have a map to follow, and over many many generations the ones that follow the environmental clues that lead them to the best places for them to go will be the ones that reproduce the most, hence "learning" (sort of) where to go through evolution. Therefore when they find themselves in a new animal, like a human, they're not in a "shit I'm lost!" situation, they'll just act based on the same stimuli as normal, wherever that takes them.
- kijin 3y agoIt probably doesn't know, and just got stuck in the brain by chance. It's not even clear that the brain is actually the optimal location for it to survive and/or reproduce, since the sample size is so small.
- fluoridation 3y ago>Parasites usually enter the body through the: Mouth, Skin So, in other words, parasites can enter the body through just about any tissue.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ouid 3y ago[dead]