Preamble:
John Allen is a biology professor who is over half a hundred years old, and he usually has big nerves and takes all kinds of accidents very lightly. However, when he found out that there was actually a worm hidden in his body, he still couldn't help but be surprised, and almost dropped his jaw.
What's going on? Can the human body really be a long-term host for parasites?
Finger bitten by an octopus in the aquarium
One day in June 2011, John was busy preparing a live octopus for an upcoming classroom session. The course he taught was elementary invertebrate zoology, which required a large number of marine organisms as teaching specimens. A batch of newly caught octopuses had just arrived in the yard that morning, and John had set aside time to help the graduate students sort and record. Proc classification is a difficult job, and John intervenes from time to time to guide him, but he doesn't know that bad luck is hidden in the corner of the aquarium.
It was close to class, and John had to scramble to pick up an octopus from the aquarium. This seemingly docile octopus usually does not attack people easily, but perhaps it was John's big movement that disturbed it, and the octopus actually bit John's right index finger, causing him to suffer a slight finger injury. Blood gushed out, John blurted out "damn stinky octopus," and the graduate students all laughed and bent over.
John has an easy-going personality and loves to joke, and he passes this little accident as a joke. The class bell rang above him, and he simply sucked the wound with his mouth, put the octopus in the teaching box, and hurried to the classroom with the box.
Feeling discomfort in the throat and hallucinating a foreign body sensation
After two months, John began to feel uncomfortable in his throat and always felt a sore throat for no apparent reason. It was scorching hot in the summer, and the air conditioner wasn't turned on enough, and John thought it was caused by a cold or cold. He prescribed some of his usual antibiotics to the hospital and recovered quickly.
But even more strange things are yet to come. It was late at night on September 15, 2011, when John was asleep, and suddenly woke up because he clearly felt as if something had grown on his palate, the surface was rough, and it was still squirming inside. He tentatively licked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, but there was no pain or itchiness except for the swelling.
The next morning, John told his wife Margaret about this, but Margaret found nothing when she examined it. She thinks that her husband has stayed up too late and is hallucinating, so she tells John not to worry too much. But John insisted that he didn't stay up late, and it was never an illusion. Margaret, knowing her husband's consistent disdain for his physical condition, was still uneasy and advised him to see a doctor.
Witness the "monster" in your mouth
At two o'clock in the afternoon, John sat in the classroom and proctored the exam. The students buried their heads in the papers, and in the boredom of John, he unconsciously touched the inside of his lips with his tongue, and suddenly felt a wriggling tingling itch. John broke out in a cold sweat and didn't rush into the bathroom until the exam was over. However, no matter how hard he tried to open his mouth wide to find it, he couldn't see the roof of his mouth clearly.
That's when John realized that it wasn't a hallucination, but that something unknown was hiding in his mouth. In order to photograph the evidence, he brought the camera, opened his lips and looked at it, only to see a wriggling white line under the mucous membrane, like a gluttonous snake! John quickly pressed the shutter to film this gruesome scene. The white lines clearly visible on the photo are strangely shaped and chilling.
John filmed the horrific scene and showed it to his wife overnight. Margaret was frightened and hurried to help John check his mouth, but could not find the thread. Just as they were discussing going to the hospital, the white line disappeared again and disappeared without a trace.
After various examinations, he was declared to be in good health
At the hospital, John went through layers of examinations, from oral observation, blood tests to CT scans, and found no abnormalities. The attending doctor, an old specialist with gray hair, had looked at John's indicators and judged that it was just a hallucination caused by over-exertion, and told John to go home with peace of mind.
In order to further observe John's condition, the hospital kept him in the hospital for half a month. During this period, the white line did not reappear, and the daily check-up was very calm. John had to go home disappointed and wait, believing that it would reappear sooner or later.
A month later, on the night of September 15th, just as John went to bed to bed, the familiar feeling of a foreign object returned!
Hands-on minor surgery to remove "parasites"
This time, John decided to take out the "monster" single-handedly. He found tweezers and scalpel blades for minor surgery, and his wife, worried, stood by to help him with the lighting. Both husband and wife are nervously awaiting the appearance of this "intruder".
John made a small cut in the inside of his lip with a razor blade, and fresh blood gushed out, and his wife quickly wiped it clean for him. Then, John slowly probed into the incision with the tweezers, and finally, the tip of the tweezers caught an object! John carefully dragged it, and a long white slender body appeared in the world, writhing and exposing itself to the two of them. It was like a maggot, and John's wife was terrified.
In order to confirm the creature's identity, they hurried to the school laboratory for testing. The results of the DNA comparison were unexpected, and this was a rare human parasite in the world - the beautiful tube nematode!
The source of the parasite invasion
It turns out that the eggs of this nematode are often entangled in soil and water, and are carried through the insect's body to find a suitable host. This parasitic disease can occur when mammals accidentally eat food containing eggs or become infected by trauma.
Remembering the experience of being bitten by an octopus a few months ago, John suddenly came to his senses. He sucked on the wound with his mouth and probably accidentally swallowed water with the eggs on it. The eggs enter his esophagus, hatch into larvae, grow into adults, and finally migrate into his mouth. Fortunately, the parasite does not continue to reproduce in the human body, and the hidden danger of infection is eliminated when it is removed.
John quickly recovered and was discharged from the hospital, bringing his own ordeal to class, giving the students a unique lesson in parasites. At the same time, he also realized that the regulatory issues in the United States must be taken seriously, and this kind of thing must not happen again.
Regulatory loopholes in the United States play a dual role with the natural environment
The reason why people in the United States are infected with this parasite every year is inseparable from two major problems in the United States: first, the regulatory standards are too lax, and the presence of insect bodies in chocolate, raisins and other foods that people are openly allowed to eat; Second, many cities are surrounded by forests, which provide a breeding ground for the spread of insect eggs. The combination of these two factors greatly increases the chance of infection.
On the contrary, in the mainland, due to the perfect food and drug regulatory system and extremely strict standards, there will definitely be no similar situation in the market. This is due to the fact that the mainland government attaches great importance to food safety and is increasing supervision every year. As a result, we eat with peace of mind and are free from worries.
Host or invader? The mystery of the parasite's identity
Can parasites survive in the human body for a long time? But for the parasite, are we the providers of food, or are we the habitat for generations? This conundrum, which goes beyond the disease itself, may require deeper thinking.
In the biosphere, the interactions between populations are so complex that it is difficult to define the concept of "parasitism" clearly. If you think about it, the human body itself is symbiotic with countless microorganisms. From another perspective, perhaps the relationship between humans and insects is not entirely a hostile relationship between the invaded and the invaded, but a delicate balance. This equilibrium may have lasted for millions of years, but we have not yet fully understood it.