Number 10 Roundworms Filarial worms, also known as roundworms,
can wreak havoc on human health.
They typically enter the bloodstream through mosquito bites and actively target the lymphatic
system.
They’re linked to a condition known as Elephantiasis tropica which causes severe and painful swelling
in the legs, arms, breasts and genitals.
The skin may also become thicker causing sufferers to experience pain.
In developing countries, the debilitating condition also carries a social stigma with
sufferers often becoming ostracized.
The case reports on elephantiasis are among the most gruesome of all parasitic diseases.
Muhammad Mushtaq, from Pakistan, pleaded with doctors to amputate his leg after it got so
swollen that it weighed 330 pounds.
The feet of one Indian woman got incredibly swollen, from a very young age, so much so
that she was never able to wear shoes.
One Kenyan man had to undergo surgery for scrotal elephantiasis as he suffered from
a 4-foot penis and 11-pound testicles.
In a similar case, American man Wesley Warren Jr’s scrotum weighed 100 pounds.
Some roundworm species, namely Onchocerca volvulus, are known to cause river blindness.
On a global scale, it’s the second-most common cause of blindness resulting from infection.
Number 9 Hookworms When viewed close up, through a microscopic
lens, the hookworm is arguably one of the most terrifying parasites on our list.
Two species, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus are known to commonly infect humans.
The former has two rows of teeth while the latter has a pair of cutting plates.
They live in animal feces and the larvae enter the human body by burrowing through the skin.
One of the most common ways in which people get infected is by walking barefoot on contaminated
soil.
Florida teenager Michael Dumas, for example, got a bad hookworm infection in his foot after
his friends buried him in the sand.
Doctors found hookworms, one of which was close to 3 inches long, crawling under Dumas’
skin.
He was given antibiotics, steroids and anti-parasitic medication but was still in pain even a month
after the incident.
Hookworms will typically settle in the small intestine and rely on the human body for nutrition.
Aside from fatigue, weakness and abdominal pain, they are also known to affect the physical
and mental development of young children.
Number 8 Whipworms Much like hookworms, whipworms enter the human
body via contaminated soil.
Eggs are primarily transmitted through dirty hands or unwashed fruits and vegetables.
As the larvae hatch they take up residence in the large intestine.
The most common symptom of heavy infection is painful bowel movements which contain a
mixture of blood, mucus and water.
Severe complications include appendicitis, rectal prolapse or bloody diarrhea.
In children, whipworm infection can cause nutritional deficiency as well as impede cognitive
growth and development.
Whipworms aren’t, by any means, recent human parasites.
In a Turkish historic village, microscopic eggs were found in human feces samples going
back more than 9,000 years.
Number 7 Toxoplasma Gondii Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite capable of
infecting any warm-blooded creature but, so far, cats are its only known definitive hosts.
The parasite spreads to humans via exposure to infected cat feces but can also be contracted
from various contaminated meats.
It causes a condition called toxoplasmosis which, in people with weak immune systems,
can cause seizures and poor coordination.
It’s particularly dangerous for expecting mothers since it can be transmitted to unborn
fetuses through the placenta.
Congenital toxoplasmosis increases the risk of miscarriage while the infant may also suffer
from blindness, epilepsy or severe mental abnormalities.
In the US, an estimated 750 people succumb to toxoplasmosis each year with nearly half
of those cases being associated with tainted meats.
The CDC recommends proper food preparation and, for cat owners, to regularly change litter
boxes so as to prevent a build-up of the parasite in their homes.
Number 6 Tapeworms Tapeworms are, for good reason, among the
most dreaded human parasites.
Eggs may be transmitted through soil or fecal matter but the most common means of human
infection is through consuming raw or undercooked meat.
Taenia solium is a type of tapeworm that comes from pork while Taenia saginata is found in
beef.
The eggs typically become attached to the gastrointestinal wall.
Once the eggs hatch the larvae start depriving the host of nutrients and may grow for years
without being detected.
Adults are hermaphrodites and may actually produce more eggs inside their host.
Tapeworm infections aren’t typically deadly but, in severe cases, may cause loss of appetite
and emaciation.
However, it’s possible that the larvae start penetrating the intestinal wall.
Once they enter the bloodstream, they’re basically on a highway connecting various
muscle tissues.
The most dangerous aspect is that the tapeworms can actually travel to the central nervous
system.
They become lodged at the site causing a condition called Neurocysticercosis.
Cysts start forming in the brain, which can lead to blindness, epileptic seizures, lesions
or tumor-like growths.
The condition is associated with major neurological problems and even death.
It’s been described as a “hidden pandemic”, the leading cause of seizures worldwide and
is suspected of being the most common parasitic disease of the brain.
Reports of tapeworm infections describe nightmarish situations.
In 2019, a Chinese construction worker was found with over 700 tapeworm cysts in his
body, including in the brain and lungs.
A Thai man was horrified when he pulled a live tapeworm out of his backside.
The stretched-out worm reportedly measured close to 30 feet.
One man had a 5-foot tapeworm removed through his nostril and he’d reportedly been living
with the parasite for 15 years.
Since tapeworms are hard to detect and victims are often asymptomatic, they can live inside
the human body for up to three decades and can potentially grow to be 80 feet long.
Number 5 Blood Flukes Blood flukes are parasitic flatworms commonly
found in standing bodies of water, such as ponds or lakes.
Larvae will pass through intermediate snail hosts before the worms enter a new developmental
phase in which they’re capable of burrowing though human skin.
They’ll enter blood vessels and migrate to the intestines, urinary tract and, in rare
cases, vital organs.
In 2019, an unnamed Mexican man was found with flukes clinging to the walls of his liver.
Blood flukes can thrive inside the human body for decades.
They cause a condition called schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever.
It’s been described as the second-most devastating parasitic disease after malaria.
It can lead to learning difficulties and poor growth in children.
People who’ve been infected for a long time may suffer kidney failure, liver damage, infertility
or bladder cancer.
According to the World Health Organization, over 200 million people are infected each
year and about 200,000 die as a result of schistosomiasis.
Since the disease is spread by contact with contaminated freshwater, access to clean water
and limiting the number of snails are the best preventive measures.
Praziquantel is a type of medication that’s effective both as a preventive treatment and
as therapy for those infected.
Number 4 Ticks Ticks are definitely among the creepiest and
deadliest invaders of the human body.
Even though they only burrow on the surface of the skin, these tiny bloodsuckers are hosts
to a number of infectious viruses, bacteria and protozoa.
There’s a long list of tick-borne disease that includes Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever,
Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.
Ticks are part of the arachnid family, known for other ill reputed members such as spiders
and scorpions.
Ticks need blood in order to survive and transition from one stage of life to the other.
Since they can’t jump or fly, many species have adapted their feeding strategies.
They’ll resort to something called “questing”.
This involves clinging on to leaves or grass and holding their first pair of legs outstretched,
ready to climb onto a host.
Once they find a suitable spot, ticks will attach themselves firmly and use their mouthparts
to pierce through the skin.
As they feed on the host’s blood, their pear-shaped bodies become grossly engorged.
In addition to the many diseases they carry, ticks also have a neurotoxin in their salivary
gland which can cause tick paralysis.
The potentially deadly disease has symptoms similar to anaphylaxis.
The Australian paralysis tick, which has claimed a number of lives in its native habitat, can
inject neurotoxic venom directly into its host.
Number 3 Pinworms Pinworms are among the most common types of
intestinal worm infections in the developed world.
They’re known to cause a disease called enterobiasis.
These thin, white worms grow to be about the size of a staple.
Pinworm eggs are swallowed, commonly as the consequence of contaminated hands, food or
other items.
Enterobiasis can develop in people regardless of age but is most common in children.
That’s because nail-biting and finger-sucking occur more frequently in this age group.
Pinworms spread via the fecal-oral route and initially settle in the anus, where they can
survive for up to three weeks.
The most common symptom is itching in the area, as the eggs start hatching and worms
begin to wiggle around.
Such infections are rarely deadly.
However, prompt treatment, usually with mebendazole, is the best course of action as it prevents
the worms from spreading.
One particularly horrifying case occurred in the UK, in 2016.
An unnamed teenage girl went to the emergency room complaining of nausea and pain in her
right side.
Doctors initially suspected appendicitis but later found that her appendix was teeming
with pinworms.
They swiftly removed the organ then used a suction pipe to prevent stray worms from falling
into the teenager’s abdominal cavity.
Number 2 Loa loa Commonly found in Africa, the Loa loa is colloquially
known as the “eye worm”.
It’s transmitted through the bite of the mango fly or deer fly and migrates through
human subcutaneous tissues, at the skin’s lowest layer.
Infection causes a condition called Loa loa filariasis.
The creepiest aspect is that the worm is somewhat of a specialist at infecting the human eye,
where it can live for several years.
While it doesn’t typically affect vision, the victim might actually feel pain as the
worm’s moving inside.
Depending on the severity of the infection, treatments range from medication to surgical
removal.
In recent years, there was one case of an Indian woman with a Loa loa worm living behind
her cornea.
She’d arrived at a medical facility with extremely bloodshot eyes and an inflamed iris.
It wasn’t long before the worm was discovered.
Her condition was rather unusual given the large size of the worm, at slightly over 0.4
inches, and the fact that it’s quite rare in India.
Doctors ultimately removed the worm by numbing it with medication and then going through
the woman’s nasal cavity for extraction.
Number 1 Screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax, the larval stage
of the screwworm fly, has adapted to feeding on the exposed flesh of warm-blooded animals,
including humans.
In other words, the screwworm is capable of eating humans alive.
Females will lay hundreds of eggs inside open flesh, such as wounds, ears or navels.
Infestation of a live vertebrate is called myasis.
The larvae hatch and start feeding into the surrounding flesh, burrowing or “screwing”
deeper into the tissue as they go.
As they chew through healthy tissue, the worms may cause severe damage and even the death
of the host.
Rochelle Harris was returning to the UK from a holiday in Peru when she started experiencing
mild headaches.
Harris soon developed excruciating pain on one side of her face and heard strange scratching
sounds in her head.
Doctors were shocked to discover that maggots were living inside her ear canal.
When they tried to remove them, the screwworms retreated towards her head.
They ultimately discovered eight large specimens living inside.
The risks were plentiful.
They could’ve chewed through facial nerves, causing face paralysis or migrate to the brain
and cause meningitis or fatal bleeding.
Fortunately, Harris didn’t suffer any long-term side-effects after the screwworms were successfully
removed.
Thanks for watching!
Would you rather contract flesh-eating maggots or walk a tightrope above crocodile-infested
waters?
Let us know in the comments section below!