Parasitic Worm - Acquisition

Acquisition

Helminths often find their way into a host through contaminated food or water, soil, mosquito bites, and even sexual acts. Poorly washed vegetables eaten raw may contain eggs of nematodes such as Ascaris, Enterobius, Thichuris, and/or cestodes such as Taenia, Hymenolepis, and Echinococcus. Plants may also be contaminated with fluke metacercaria (e.g. Fasciola). Undercooked meats may transmit Taenia (pork, beef and venison), Trichinella (pork and bear), Diphyllobothrium (fish), Clonorchis (fish), and Paragonimus (crustaceans). Schistosomes and nematodes such as hookworms (Ancylostoma and Necator) and Strongyloides can penetrate the skin. Finally, Wuchereria, Onchocerca, and Dracunculus are transmitted by mosquitoes and flies.

Populations in the developing world are at particular risk for infestation with parasitic worms. Risk factors include inadequate water treatment, use of contaminated water for drinking, cooking, irrigation and to wash food, undercooked food of animal origin, and walking barefoot. Simple measures can have strong impacts on prevention. These include use of shoes, soaking vegetables with 1.5% bleach, adequate cooking of foods, and sleeping under mosquito-proof nets.

Read more about this topic:  Parasitic Worm

Famous quotes containing the word acquisition:

    Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.
    Socrates (469–399 B.C.)

    Whatever may be our just grievances in the southern states, it is fitting that we acknowledge that, considering their poverty and past relationship to the Negro race, they have done remarkably well for the cause of education among us. That the whole South should commit itself to the principle that the colored people have a right to be educated is an immense acquisition to the cause of popular education.
    Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)

    Always and everywhere children take an active role in the construction and acquisition of learning and understanding. To learn is a satisfying experience, but also, as the psychologist Nelson Goodman tells us, to understand is to experience desire, drama, and conquest.
    Carolyn Edwards (20th century)