How to Be Hated (just say what nobody wants to hear)

So here I am, back in my Biology teacher outfit...

I have been mocked and called a killjoy for my phobia regarding dirt and bugs in food (and in contact with the skin, for that matter). My insistence that animals belong out-of-doors has made me persona non grata in some homes (and in others, depending on the circumstances, the home is locus non grata to me!). All this because I have had the opportunity to study pathological organisms up close and in real-time. OK, folks, here's another goodie to make you dislike my depressing attitude.

It seems that the Pharisees might have had some good points with respect to their frequent washing. Remember -- Jesus' words were to do as they said and not as they did. Here is a cute little article, an interview with a leading wormologist, Dr. Peter Hotez :

http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0307/ijge/hall.htm

following this Christmas present of an article via Reuters :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071226/hl_nm/diseases_neglected_usa_dc

My children (the older ones) had plenty of opportunity to observe roundworms and tapeworms in dogshit when we lived in Northern Saskatchewan. The educational value of steaming piles with wriggling critters is enormous. Just because the ascarids and fish tapeworms were in the local dogs did not mean they were not ready to take up residence in a careless person. The article above provides a wake-up call :

"I feel strongly that this is such an important health issue and yet because it only affects the poor it has been ignored," Hotez said via e-mail.

He said the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defend against bio-terrorism threats like anthrax or smallpox or avian flu, which were more a theoretical concern than a real threat at present.

"And yet we have a devastating parasitic disease burden among the American poor, right under our nose," Hotez said.

He noted a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented in November, found that almost 14 percent of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara roundworms, which dogs and cats can pass to people.

"Urban playgrounds in the United States have recently been shown to be a particularly rich source of Toxocara eggs and inner-city children are at high risk of acquiring the infection," Hotez wrote, adding that this might be partly behind the rise in asthma cases in the country. Up to 23 percent of urban black children may be infected, he said.

"Because of its possible links to asthma, it would be important to determine whether covert toxocariasis is a basis for the rise of asthma among inner-city children in the northeastern United States," he added.

"Cysticercosis is another very serious parasitic worm infection ... caused by the tapeworm Taenia solium, that results in seizures and other neurological manifestations," Hotez wrote.

He said up to 2,000 new cases of neurological disease caused by tapeworms are diagnosed every year in the United States. More than 2 percent of adult Latinos may be infected, and with 35 million Hispanics in the United States, this could add up to tens of thousands of cases, Hotez said.

"In the hospitals of Los Angeles, California, neurocysticercosis currently accounts for 10 percent of all seizures presenting to some emergency departments," he wrote.

Ummm... Taenia solium... that is the pork tapeworm. ["Neurological disease" (transl.) tapeworm cysts in the brain.] Also, I would dispute that it "only affects the poor"; rather, it tends to affect the ignorant, regardless their economic status. (His slanting it toward the "poor" may be a pitch for increased government funding).

The solution to the problem -- prevention -- does not require massive amounts of taxpayer funding. It starts with a few fundamental principles of hygiene :

1. WASH YOUR HANDS before eating.

2. WASH YOUR FOOD before eating raw fruit and veggies. A huge amount of our produce is imported from Mexico and points south, as well as that nice fruit that comes here from southern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Orient. Countries that fertilize their soil with human shit are allowed to export the produce to us. Aside from any bacteria or protozoa that might be there, you could also swallow cestodes, trematodes, and helminthes in the form of eggs or cysts.

3. STOP EATING SUSHI. Don't believe me? Try :

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap25.html

or for the REAL gory details, try :

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=358121

(I got a kick out of this part -- "Thorough heating of the fish dish is essential, since anisakid nematodes are reported to have survived after fish was prepared in a microwave oven. Alternatively, seafoods should be frozen at -20C (temperature of most home freezers) for 3 days; a whole fish weighing 4 to 8 pounds should be frozen at -20C for at least 5 days. At room temperature, Anisakis larvae can survive for up to 6 days in 10% Formalin, 112 days in 1% HCl, 51 days in vinegar, 1 day in soy sauce, and 1 day in Worcestershire sauce.")

4. COOK PORK THOROUGHLY. I saw a recent article that said trichinosis was extinct in the USA, to which I would have to say, that is a stupid statement.

4. Keep Fido, KiKi, and their associates out-of-doors. Yeah, they are cuddly and intelligent and good companions. They also lick the hind ends of their fellow four-legged friends, and eat raw critters they find when they go for a walk. For good measure, wash your hands after you pet them, since parasite eggs are frequently disseminated attached to fur.

5. Look back before you flush. I got that tip from the guy I did my student teaching with. He was an amateur parasitologist; he had quite a collection of worms from road kill or otherwise deceased wild animals. One of his more impressive exhibits was a 2-foot long tapeworm he extracted from the intestines of a dead sparrow. A quick peek in the bowl may be the best shot you have at early diagnosis.

I won't say here what you should do if your butt itches. Suffice it to say that ascarids (pinworms, notoriously) crawl out at night to lay their eggs around the anal opening and reinfection can occur when hand-to-mouth interfaces take place (see also my comment about Fido's proclivity towards the anal inspections of his friends).

Maybe I should do a series on lifecycles of the critters most animal-lovers never think about.