There isn’t much that grosses me out. Should be fairly obvious given that I’ve been writing about parasites and all the deep, dark, moist caverns of the body they find themselves in. But if there’s one thing that does make me cringe or cower, it’s the idea of something - anything - invading my eyes.
I guess it has to do with the soft, moist, squishy tissue of our eye. You never realize how vulnerable an eye is until you cut one open I guess… (Don’t worry, it was just a cow eye for biology lab, in case you’re wondering…)
Like every part of our bodies, even our eyes aren’t safe from parasites. And one of the most successful human parasites, our beloved Toxoplasma gondii, can make a nice cozy nest in our eyes if it so wishes. But eye infection via toxoplasmosis is fairly rare, and most often occurs in immunocompromised individuals and babies by which the parasite crosses the placenta [1]. The recurring symptom here for toxoplasmosis eye infection and other eye infections is going to be blindness. It is not always the case, and usually has to do with the speed of diagnosis and treatment from when infection occurs.
There have been incidences of people going blind from wearing contact lenses due to the Acanthamoeba parasite. One such instance involved a college student who wore her contact lenses for six months without taking them out or cleaning them [2]. The aquatic amoeba went on to devour her retina. This could be easily avoided by ensuring hygienic practices regarding contact lenses. People, clean your lenses. You may save your sight. If you need some extra incentive, check out this video on Acanthamoeba in action.
Traveling over to Africa and South America for a moment, you may have come across onchocerciasis, or river blindness. (Let’s play guess the result of an untreated illness.) The filarial worm disease is considered one of the neglected tropical diseases, and is contracted via blackflies [3]. The worm can be found in every tissue of the eye except for the lens (that hard marble-like thing in the middle of your squishy eye). So if you find yourself traveling to Africa or South America, make sure you have insect repellent. Definitely want to keep those blackflies away.
If you aren’t worried about blackflies and potential onchocerciasis, how about we look in your backyard. If you have a dog or cat, your very pet may be carrying a species of Toxocara which can swim up into your eye if it ends up inside you, although it usually prefers lungs and intestines. But no worries, if anything, it tends to infect children, so you should be fine [4]. As with the above parasites, again, if Toxocara ends up in your eye, blindness can result.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of eye parasites as even malaria or leishmaniasis can end up in your eye as well. Unfortunately, our eyes are very vulnerable to come under attack from parasites, and unlike some of the good that some helminths (parasitic worms) can provide with new autoimmune treatments, eye parasites are no good and all bad. There is no surefire way to prevent any of the above parasites (unless you want to become the next bubble boy), and prevention is the way to go. If you’re in an area where any parasites are endemic, wear insect repellent and practice good hygiene.
You may find it tedious, but you never know, you may be saving your sight.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Food-Borne Parasites: Parasites are Friends, Not Food
I was enjoying a late afternoon lunch with my sister at a cheap ‘hole in the wall’ Japanese restaurant today. We sat at the small sushi bar, chatting away as we ordered and waited for the arrival of our food... Sorry, nothing really exciting happened. We didn’t have a moving lung fluke or tapeworm in our food. Neither did we immediately get sick, vomiting in a tiny bathroom or acquiring the spewing from the opposite end.
But then again… I only eat cooked things due to being slightly immunocompromised, and it’s a rare treat for my sister. (She only partakes in sashimi, raw fish, at “trusted” restaurants.)
Nonetheless, as I sat pointing out the different raw fish in the display case atop the bar, the idea of obtaining an extra passenger on the way out of the restaurant never fails to escape my mind. I guess I spend too much time reading about parasites to allow a prime pick-up spot get away mentally.
Then again, strangely enough, on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) top ten list for food-borne parasites (you’ll recognize Toxoplasma gondii and Taenia solium if you’ve read my mental health post), only one is acquired from eating raw or undercooked fish, Opisthorchiidae, and it’s acquired from freshwater fish. Note that freshwater fish aren’t used as raw sashimi (you might see freshwater eel as a choice, but it IS cooked) due to the risk of parasites and other microorganisms [1]. For example, in Thailand, a popular dish involves raw, fermented fish that transmits this parasite which accumulates in the liver and causes bile duct cancer [2].
On the contrary, the typical culprits in infecting your sushi are Diphyllobothrium latum and Anisakidae, a tapeworm and roundworm respectively. If you’ve been following internet gossip or the news, one of the recent news stories describes a sushi-loving man discovering that his whole body was infected with Diphyllobothrium latum, which can be deadly if it reaches the brain [3]. (As in the case with most things.) Due to the translucent nature of raw fish, you can see any parasitic worms in your dinner by taking a close look (although your sushi chef should have done so already if he acquired the freshest fish and didn’t freeze it per FDA standards).
Other foods that pose a potential risk for parasites are undercooked or raw pork which can yield either an Trichinella spiralis (the worm responsible for trichinosis) or Taenia solium infection. Others are fresh produce since you don’t know about the quality of the water or whether any animals came into contact with said produce. This is why you always wash your fruits and vegetables, and certain produce that are hard to clean, such as broccoli or cauliflower, you should always cook.
One protozoan in particular, Cryptosporidium, I’d like to focus on for a moment. There was a particularly bad outbreak of Cryptosporidium in 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Half the city contracted the parasite, and the main treatment is fluids to prevent dehydration during diarrheal episodes. (As always, it’s a main danger to immunocompromised patients as well as the very old and very young.) Known as the worst outbreak of the protozoan, the source of the disease was traced back to a contaminated water-treatment plant that serviced the southern portion of the city [4]. It just goes to show you, you always want to ensure the purity and cleanliness of your water.
To ensure you are never at the mercy of a food-borne parasite, always wash fruits, veggies, and even raw meats before cooking (you’ll wash off that layer of grime that also contains bacteria and viruses). Beware that even fermented or cured fishes and meats can still contain infectious parasites. Of course, just as abstinence isn’t the answer for “curing” the outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases, abstinence from your favorite foods (if unsafe) isn’t possible. If you like sashimi, ceviche, carpaccio, poke, or any other raw dish, don’t be afraid to ask the restaurant any questions about their sources and storage methods. (Be warned your home freezer isn’t enough to kill parasites so don’t try making sashimi at home unless you know how.) Also, you learn to know which restaurants are “trustworthy” and which may not be so much.
Remember, just as your food-borne friends love your gut, you too should love and trust your gut feeling.
But then again… I only eat cooked things due to being slightly immunocompromised, and it’s a rare treat for my sister. (She only partakes in sashimi, raw fish, at “trusted” restaurants.)
Nonetheless, as I sat pointing out the different raw fish in the display case atop the bar, the idea of obtaining an extra passenger on the way out of the restaurant never fails to escape my mind. I guess I spend too much time reading about parasites to allow a prime pick-up spot get away mentally.
Then again, strangely enough, on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) top ten list for food-borne parasites (you’ll recognize Toxoplasma gondii and Taenia solium if you’ve read my mental health post), only one is acquired from eating raw or undercooked fish, Opisthorchiidae, and it’s acquired from freshwater fish. Note that freshwater fish aren’t used as raw sashimi (you might see freshwater eel as a choice, but it IS cooked) due to the risk of parasites and other microorganisms [1]. For example, in Thailand, a popular dish involves raw, fermented fish that transmits this parasite which accumulates in the liver and causes bile duct cancer [2].
On the contrary, the typical culprits in infecting your sushi are Diphyllobothrium latum and Anisakidae, a tapeworm and roundworm respectively. If you’ve been following internet gossip or the news, one of the recent news stories describes a sushi-loving man discovering that his whole body was infected with Diphyllobothrium latum, which can be deadly if it reaches the brain [3]. (As in the case with most things.) Due to the translucent nature of raw fish, you can see any parasitic worms in your dinner by taking a close look (although your sushi chef should have done so already if he acquired the freshest fish and didn’t freeze it per FDA standards).
Other foods that pose a potential risk for parasites are undercooked or raw pork which can yield either an Trichinella spiralis (the worm responsible for trichinosis) or Taenia solium infection. Others are fresh produce since you don’t know about the quality of the water or whether any animals came into contact with said produce. This is why you always wash your fruits and vegetables, and certain produce that are hard to clean, such as broccoli or cauliflower, you should always cook.
One protozoan in particular, Cryptosporidium, I’d like to focus on for a moment. There was a particularly bad outbreak of Cryptosporidium in 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Half the city contracted the parasite, and the main treatment is fluids to prevent dehydration during diarrheal episodes. (As always, it’s a main danger to immunocompromised patients as well as the very old and very young.) Known as the worst outbreak of the protozoan, the source of the disease was traced back to a contaminated water-treatment plant that serviced the southern portion of the city [4]. It just goes to show you, you always want to ensure the purity and cleanliness of your water.
To ensure you are never at the mercy of a food-borne parasite, always wash fruits, veggies, and even raw meats before cooking (you’ll wash off that layer of grime that also contains bacteria and viruses). Beware that even fermented or cured fishes and meats can still contain infectious parasites. Of course, just as abstinence isn’t the answer for “curing” the outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases, abstinence from your favorite foods (if unsafe) isn’t possible. If you like sashimi, ceviche, carpaccio, poke, or any other raw dish, don’t be afraid to ask the restaurant any questions about their sources and storage methods. (Be warned your home freezer isn’t enough to kill parasites so don’t try making sashimi at home unless you know how.) Also, you learn to know which restaurants are “trustworthy” and which may not be so much.
Remember, just as your food-borne friends love your gut, you too should love and trust your gut feeling.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Parasites on the World Wide Web
I think everyone’s seen that pop-up at least once in their lifetime on the Internet, the flashing one that reads “You are the 1,000,000 visitor on this site. You’ve won [prize]! Click here!” Other popular ones are the ones about a secret in losing weight, gaining muscles, or losing wrinkles. And we always hear about the ones with the scantily clad women for those that indulge in those lovely videos of the horizontal tango.
I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with parasites, unless you managed to read that helpful set of larger text at the top of this post… I’ve decided to do another parasite post in a less biological and clinical aspect (as in my social parasitism post). Since parasites sneak below our cultural view more often than not, let’s examine them in one of our keys to everyday simplicity, the World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Internet.
From the day we turned on the computer and set up access to the Internet, we have been vulnerable to Internet Parasite Software. Among these come familiar digital terms such as viruses, worms, adware (those exceptional pop ups you have a blocker for), and spyware [1]. Occasionally, a new virus will grace the span of the Internet and all the usual defensive programs can do nil to stop it from infecting computers across the globe. Usually then, a news story will report the dangers on our televisions, using words as worm, virus, or trojan horse.
But never parasite.
Essentially, that’s what all of these things are. Parasites. They serve no good, only harm. Except for maybe spyware gifting your credit card or identification information to that hacker halfway across the world, digital parasites serve no benefit to anyone. If anything, a new digital parasite only breeds hysteria once the news gets a hold of it.
But digital parasites are not just the malware that make a cozy nest in your computer. They also encompass the pirates for movies, television, and music. Come clean. More likely than not, you’ve downloaded a song or movie that you just didn’t want to pay for when it was sitting in front of you on your computer screen, glowing like a beacon with its glittered price tag reading FREE. In this case, the definition of parasite falls from black and white to grey. These pirates do spread content to people that might not have access and definitely provide a source of advertising, but for the producers of this content, these pirates are more parasitic than not.
In an attempt to hinder piracy, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) protects copyrighted work on the never ending reach of the Internet [2]. Robert Levine, former Billboard executive editor, discusses the danger of digital piracy, how the DMCA is not enough, and how the industry can fight back in his book, Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back [3].
Digital parasites aren’t just the individuals uploading copyrighted media online for everyone, but there has been argument of our beloved search engine, Google, being a digital parasite. Google and other “companies that aggregate mainstream media content without paying a fee are the 'parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet,'” claims Robert Thomson, editor of Wall Street Journal [4]. In short, the argument is that Google collects all this content (including copyrighted material) for free while receiving revenues for their sorting.
I doubt the general public would consider Google a parasite. Not when it answers our questions, provides us with email services, an online backup for files, among other things. (Although I think we can all agree Google+ is just a waste of space.) But to those who provide content, Google does collect cash for the content provider's hard work.
Corporate conglomerates collecting revenues for free content, harmful software that seeks to spread and corrupt within your files or hard drives, and the mysterious pirates who sail the seven seas of the Internet with plenty of booty… The parasites of the World Wide Web take many different forms depending on who you are and what sort of content you provide in the greater scheme of things. I think we can all agree that parasitic software needs to be guarded against, but the other two categories of digital parasites reside in the grey area of parasitic entities.
It's up to you, but next time that free download siren calls your name, or you search on Google for anything of interest, you might want to think twice about aiding a digital parasite.
I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with parasites, unless you managed to read that helpful set of larger text at the top of this post… I’ve decided to do another parasite post in a less biological and clinical aspect (as in my social parasitism post). Since parasites sneak below our cultural view more often than not, let’s examine them in one of our keys to everyday simplicity, the World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Internet.
From the day we turned on the computer and set up access to the Internet, we have been vulnerable to Internet Parasite Software. Among these come familiar digital terms such as viruses, worms, adware (those exceptional pop ups you have a blocker for), and spyware [1]. Occasionally, a new virus will grace the span of the Internet and all the usual defensive programs can do nil to stop it from infecting computers across the globe. Usually then, a news story will report the dangers on our televisions, using words as worm, virus, or trojan horse.
But never parasite.
Essentially, that’s what all of these things are. Parasites. They serve no good, only harm. Except for maybe spyware gifting your credit card or identification information to that hacker halfway across the world, digital parasites serve no benefit to anyone. If anything, a new digital parasite only breeds hysteria once the news gets a hold of it.
But digital parasites are not just the malware that make a cozy nest in your computer. They also encompass the pirates for movies, television, and music. Come clean. More likely than not, you’ve downloaded a song or movie that you just didn’t want to pay for when it was sitting in front of you on your computer screen, glowing like a beacon with its glittered price tag reading FREE. In this case, the definition of parasite falls from black and white to grey. These pirates do spread content to people that might not have access and definitely provide a source of advertising, but for the producers of this content, these pirates are more parasitic than not.
In an attempt to hinder piracy, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) protects copyrighted work on the never ending reach of the Internet [2]. Robert Levine, former Billboard executive editor, discusses the danger of digital piracy, how the DMCA is not enough, and how the industry can fight back in his book, Free Ride: How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back [3].
Digital parasites aren’t just the individuals uploading copyrighted media online for everyone, but there has been argument of our beloved search engine, Google, being a digital parasite. Google and other “companies that aggregate mainstream media content without paying a fee are the 'parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet,'” claims Robert Thomson, editor of Wall Street Journal [4]. In short, the argument is that Google collects all this content (including copyrighted material) for free while receiving revenues for their sorting.
I doubt the general public would consider Google a parasite. Not when it answers our questions, provides us with email services, an online backup for files, among other things. (Although I think we can all agree Google+ is just a waste of space.) But to those who provide content, Google does collect cash for the content provider's hard work.
Corporate conglomerates collecting revenues for free content, harmful software that seeks to spread and corrupt within your files or hard drives, and the mysterious pirates who sail the seven seas of the Internet with plenty of booty… The parasites of the World Wide Web take many different forms depending on who you are and what sort of content you provide in the greater scheme of things. I think we can all agree that parasitic software needs to be guarded against, but the other two categories of digital parasites reside in the grey area of parasitic entities.
It's up to you, but next time that free download siren calls your name, or you search on Google for anything of interest, you might want to think twice about aiding a digital parasite.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Spotlight: The Adventures of Mr. Lebo and his Piggies
Honestly, I can’t say I have any up close and personal experiences with parasites. I haven’t even been infested with lice or mites, and when living with or existing as a child, such things can be quite easy to contract. And if I was infested with a parasite, I honestly don’t think I’d be as good of a sport as Mr. Lebo.
Who is Mr. Lebo, you ask? Mr. Lebo is an elementary science teacher with Princeton Regional Schools who kept a science blog, Mad Science, while teaching students in Madagascar. The blog, since 2010, has been inactive, and his last blog update was on a Madagascar Children’s Home blog, Akany Avoko, in 2013. His activities since then are a mystery as his other listed blogs have no active links.
I am going to focus on Mr. Lebo’s extraordinary experience with his parasite infections, which were recounted on his Mad Science blog in November 2009 and January 2010. He takes a new spin on focusing on parasites from a personal account. Instead of taking a clinical account or the usual ‘Ew! Gross! THAT was in my body?’ response to parasitic infection, Lebo makes lighthearted fun of his infection through hyperbole and joking. He carries an almost admirable respect towards the parasites that once made home in his body. His attitude while spinning his tale with parasites mixes fun and education together, when usually parasites are anything but fun.
In his first entry, titled a fun “♬♬♬ I Love You...You Love Me...We are One Big Happy Parasitic Family ♬♬♬,”Lebo describes finding a black spot in his foot in which he discovers many parasite eggs (he doesn’t wait until they hatch to find out what it is). He starts off his post in a very casual tone, taking use of meiosis. (For you science people out there, not the sexual reproduction of cell division, but the figure of speech.) He demonstrates this underexpression of emotion in his line, “And, as it turns out, the parasites have been enjoying me as well.” Not the typical reaction to discovering parasites. But it gets better. Lebo draws in an abrupt, unexpected transition in paraprosdokian, pulling his calm, casual emotion into panic, based on his usage of exclamation points. Lebo plays with these shifts in emotion from reserved to panic by inserting sine dicendos (ie. stating the obvious) and returning to exclamated statements. One such instance, “There shouldn’t be eggs in my foot” plays a humorous tone to Lebo’s potential suffering.
In Mr. Lebo’s second adventure with parasites, he discovers a female sand flea, colloquially called jigger sometimes, in his toe with heaps of eggs. Lebo’s love of song returns in “This Little Piggy…” Yes, he even includes the fun child song in the beginning of his post.
Definitely sounds like a fun time, right?
Maybe not so much. This time, the parasite eggs are numerous, and the jigger has come along for the ride too. (It is unknown if the first infection, two months earlier, was of the same species.) There’s less of paraprosdokian and abrupt transitions between calm and panic this time around. Instead, Lebo’s characteristic “parent explaining to child” tone comes in. He describes the jigger as a “mommy” since it was carrying eggs and affectionately refers to his toes as “piggies” in honor of the leading song. He is more educational this time around, going through the process of infection and how he removed the flea and her babies from his body.
Although Mr. Lebo’s blog has since been defunct, he has some peculiar information about science from Madagascar and an interesting tale of parasitic infection. Definitely worth a look, and Mr. Lebo deserves some kudos for going through parasitic infection with such an open mind.
Who is Mr. Lebo, you ask? Mr. Lebo is an elementary science teacher with Princeton Regional Schools who kept a science blog, Mad Science, while teaching students in Madagascar. The blog, since 2010, has been inactive, and his last blog update was on a Madagascar Children’s Home blog, Akany Avoko, in 2013. His activities since then are a mystery as his other listed blogs have no active links.
I am going to focus on Mr. Lebo’s extraordinary experience with his parasite infections, which were recounted on his Mad Science blog in November 2009 and January 2010. He takes a new spin on focusing on parasites from a personal account. Instead of taking a clinical account or the usual ‘Ew! Gross! THAT was in my body?’ response to parasitic infection, Lebo makes lighthearted fun of his infection through hyperbole and joking. He carries an almost admirable respect towards the parasites that once made home in his body. His attitude while spinning his tale with parasites mixes fun and education together, when usually parasites are anything but fun.
In his first entry, titled a fun “♬♬♬ I Love You...You Love Me...We are One Big Happy Parasitic Family ♬♬♬,”Lebo describes finding a black spot in his foot in which he discovers many parasite eggs (he doesn’t wait until they hatch to find out what it is). He starts off his post in a very casual tone, taking use of meiosis. (For you science people out there, not the sexual reproduction of cell division, but the figure of speech.) He demonstrates this underexpression of emotion in his line, “And, as it turns out, the parasites have been enjoying me as well.” Not the typical reaction to discovering parasites. But it gets better. Lebo draws in an abrupt, unexpected transition in paraprosdokian, pulling his calm, casual emotion into panic, based on his usage of exclamation points. Lebo plays with these shifts in emotion from reserved to panic by inserting sine dicendos (ie. stating the obvious) and returning to exclamated statements. One such instance, “There shouldn’t be eggs in my foot” plays a humorous tone to Lebo’s potential suffering.
In Mr. Lebo’s second adventure with parasites, he discovers a female sand flea, colloquially called jigger sometimes, in his toe with heaps of eggs. Lebo’s love of song returns in “This Little Piggy…” Yes, he even includes the fun child song in the beginning of his post.
Definitely sounds like a fun time, right?
Maybe not so much. This time, the parasite eggs are numerous, and the jigger has come along for the ride too. (It is unknown if the first infection, two months earlier, was of the same species.) There’s less of paraprosdokian and abrupt transitions between calm and panic this time around. Instead, Lebo’s characteristic “parent explaining to child” tone comes in. He describes the jigger as a “mommy” since it was carrying eggs and affectionately refers to his toes as “piggies” in honor of the leading song. He is more educational this time around, going through the process of infection and how he removed the flea and her babies from his body.
Although Mr. Lebo’s blog has since been defunct, he has some peculiar information about science from Madagascar and an interesting tale of parasitic infection. Definitely worth a look, and Mr. Lebo deserves some kudos for going through parasitic infection with such an open mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)