RP145 Parasites

RP145 Parasites

You probably don't want to think about this, but our bodies are full of tiny animals. They live off us. They' re called parasites.

A parasite is a creature that depends on another creature, called the host, to live. The host, without knowing it, provides food and shelter for the parasite. Some parasites can be very dangerous, even deadly, while others are harmless.

There are many hundreds, even thousands, of types of parasites that can live on or in humans. One of the most common is the hookworm. Hookworms live in the intestines and suck blood. They sound frightening, but in fact, about 50 percent of people in the world have hookworms, and most of them feel nothing at all. Hookworms only become a serious problem when you have too many. Then they can cause people to feel sick and lose weight.

There's a harmless parasite called a tooth amoeba that lives in our mouths. They live in holes and cavities in our teeth and eat tiny bits of food left behind. Dust mites are also usually innocent. They live on our skin and actually eat dead skin. There are parasites that can live in our eyelashes and eyebrows. You might have them and never know it!

Tapeworms, on the other hand, are very dangerous. They can grow more than 30 feet long, and they live by eating the food the human host eats. They can kill their hosts by causing them to starve. River blindness, a terrible disease, is caused by a parasite that gets into our bodies through black fly bites. The infection these parasites cause can leave people blind.

We humans think we rule the world, but perhaps we should pay more attention to the microscopic creatures that affect us every day.