You Wanna See Gross?

Just been thinking about Andrew's piece yesterday about little demons floating around. I took a course in parasitology in university from this strange little old woman who once decorated her christmas tree with 40-foot long tapeworms. We had to do a final project in which we had to collect parasites from nature and identify them. In my first attempt, I actually tried to collect the schistosomes that cause swimmer's itch from snails that live in the sea. Unfortunately, I didn't have the proper tank to keep salt water snails alive long enough to be able to release the parasites. The snails died a horrible death and then rotted, emitting the worst smell that I have ever experienced, or want to experience again. It was a good thing in some way though because I wouldn't have known which parasites the schistosomes were, and I would have had to identify them. If you've never tried to identify animals that consist of nothing more than suckers and sex organs, it's a pain in the ass. I eventually had to dissect worm testes to find parasites which turned out to be vey closely related to the amoebas that live in people's mouths. Betcha didn't know that your mouth is very likely filled with these single celled parasites!

But if you want to see really gross, check out the effects of this other parasite that blocks lymph nodes causing swelling. But don't say I didn't warn you.