If You Want Me, I Shall Be In The Spleen

[drhoz]

Parasitic filarial nematodes, and their larval stages, are responsible for heartworm, filarial elephantiasis,river blindness, loa loa, and Strongyloidiasis. Strongyloides is an unusual one - it infects baboons, chimps & humans, & it's equally happy as a parasite and as a free living nematode

Comments

[teresina]

Oh god no.

[drhoz]

oh god yes. wait till you hear about Guinea Worm

[teresina]

D:

[loserwhorecunt]

" ... and our parasites evolved with us." good point. and i wonder, are these parisites the evolved product or the remains of a species that did not evolve?

[drhoz]

see Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex - parasites are *highly* evolved - they may have discarded eyes, legs, etc, but they've got hundreds of intricate adaptations that make them so successful. Indeed, there are more species of parasite than their are species of anything else.

hmm ...

[loserwhorecunt]

thank you. ;)

[pikku_gen]

Even parasites have parasites. Just how cool is that? XD

[fusion_mobile]

Curses.

[foxbaby]

oh god why

[drhoz]

*shrugs* big walking bags of meat with inadequate defenses.. of course something is going to take advantage of us. Lots of somethings in fact.

[cielamara]

Love. :)

I am horribly fascinated by parasites. They give me nightmares, but God, they are SO FREAKING COOL. When I took an anthropology course last spring, my prof had done his stuff in medical anthropology, and my God, we talked a LOT about elephantiasis. DO NOT WANT, but DAMN, that shit was cool.