Your Questions About Parasites In Humans

Sandy asks…

How common are parasites in humans?

Anyone have a link for statistics on a site that isn’t trying to sell something?

Ellen answers:

Http://www.humaworm.com/parasitetypes.html

Site has some good info… I work in microbiology.

Linda asks…

what parasites can humans catch from dogs?

okay i took my dog to the park to play and there be a lot of cats and dogs that use the bathroom in there. but when we got home she stepped on my mouth while was opened. so my question is what can i catch and can it be treated?

Ellen answers:

Parasites are all transferable to other species. From worms to fleas and ticks, mites (all though they dont live long on us). Things like Giardia is a possible transfer too (not fully decided by medical field if it can species pass as there are a number of types of giardia).

Mary asks…

What are some invertebrate parasites that plague humans?

There are many invertebrate parasites that plague humans. In terms of adaptation to an obligate parasitic lifestyle, what are two invertebrate parasites?

Ellen answers:

How about this example? The female Anopheles mosquito must ingest blood from a warm blooded humans in order to fertilize their eggs. This is an Obligate parasitic example involving Humans as the host. The male mosquito subsists off of flower nectar. In the process of drinking the blood she injects an anti-coagulant that contains the parasitic organism responsible for Malaria. This Protozoan organism is called Plasmodium and there are three types. Vivax, Falciparum, and Ovale. These organisms then go through a complex lifecycle that requires developmental stages in humans (This is especially in the case of Falciparum) as well as mosquitoes. Malaria as a disease has been responsible for the death of millions of human beings. I hope this helped

Betty asks…

Are humans esentially parasites?

It has been said that that there are more bacteria cells than human cells in the body. Then we have to consider our function on this planet – if the main goal of humans is to reproduce and consume natural resources at an exponential rate then cant it be said that humans are nothing more than a group of viruses – albeit complex ones?