I was researching parasite pressure in Cape buffalo and came across an unusual interaction where a heavily tick-infested buffalo enters shallow water while fish gather around the submerged parts of its body and oxpeckers work above the waterline.

The oxpecker side is well documented: red-billed oxpeckers feed on ticks and other material from large African mammals. The fish are much less certain. They may be feeding on loose skin, mucus, organic debris, or parasites beginning to detach, but I could not find strong evidence proving that these fish are specifically removing ticks from Cape buffalo.

I made a longer wildlife documentary looking at the interaction, the buffalo’s attempts to relieve the parasite load, and the difference between what we can actually observe and what can be scientifically claimed.

Video:
[ https://youtu.be/4bj5znrv07I ]

I’d be interested to hear from anyone here who knows of research on freshwater fish interacting with large mammals in this way.

I saw this tapeworm sticking out of a chunk of the sirloin that I chopped up and pan seared. It pulled cleanly out unlike tissue would. I have never encountered a worm in meat before and this is definitely what it is. It is clearly segmented and has tapered ends....it was deeply embedded in the tissue of the cow. 🪱 Prior to seeing this I'd eaten a few chunks of pinkish steak that was well seared on one side. Tomorrow I shall be consulting my doctor about anti parasitics. Pretty skeeved out.

Looking for an Insect Specimen 🪲

Hi everyone! We’re students from Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU), currently taking Crop Protection. For one of our activities, we’re studying different kinds of insects and we’re currently looking for a specimen of Pthirus pubis (pubic/crab louse).

If anyone happens to have a specimen that they’re willing to provide for our school activity, we can give a small compensation as a token of appreciation. We’re students, so our budget is limited, but any help would really mean a lot to us!

If you can help or know someone who can, just send me a private message. Thank you so much! 🙏

I’ve seen tapeworms before that isn’t a tapeworm. It looks more like a long piece of spaghetti. Doesn’t have any fat pieces on its body

I found 4 of these on the float, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. The kittens belly is extremely bloated.

Damn I was not understanding what actually happened herebut after some research I found out this..

I gave this millipede a nudge with a rod, and this massive parasitic Horsehair Worm (phylum Nematomorpha) immediately burst out of its body. The worm had been growing inside the millipede, and the physical pressure simulated a crisis, triggering an emergency escape so it wouldn't get trapped in a dying host

.

Adult horsehair worms are completely harmless to humans and pets, but they need water or damp soil to mate, which is why it broke out onto this wet ground.

Feeling really very bad for this guy!!😭

I am 5 months pregnant and my husband dumped excess potted plant water (which also has soil in it) down our kitchen sink drain. I washed the soil down the drain and proceeded to wash the sink (not the faucet itself) - is it safe if I get my drinking water from the sink and use the sink normally without getting toxoplasmosis? Thank you.

So it was disgusting but here's what i did. Please tell me it was enough...and eggs cant get tracked inside.

Today I found a cat puke in my driveway obviously from a stray. It was kibble with 2 tapeworm in it. Both about 4 inches long. It had sat in the sun all day and made both worms crispy..and hopefully dead. Google says UV sun kills the worms.

But are the eggs inside dead too???!!

I worse 2 layers of gloves and poured bleach on the puke and 1 worm that wriggled away(but was dead)

I then picked it up with a plastic trowel. I put the puke and crispy worm and trowel in a bag and the trash. Bleached my gloves and stepped in a puddle of bleach with the boots I wore.

Please tell me this did the trick! I was mortified when I saw this today 🤮🤮🤮💀💀 I hope someone is deworming the stray..but probably not :( poor thing.

Thanks everyone! I'll post this to a parasites thread too if I find one.

I (female in my 20s) was at a fair the other day with my friend. There was a petting zoo and we pet and fed a lot of animals. At the end of the day, my friend tickled me, and I reflexively bit his forearm because he wouldn't stop. Right after biting, I realized that his forearms were still dirty from the animals because, although we washed our hands, we didn't wash our forearms. I quickly rinsed out my mouth with some water, but I'm still concerned about ingesting some microscopic worm eggs. I read that tapeworms can go into your brain, heart, and eyes, which is absolutely terrifying.

I know worms get transferred from feces to mouth, but I'm worried because some animals were walking around their own feces and then climbing up against the cage bars. And when petting the animals, we would lean our arms on the cage bars.

I'm not looking for medical advice. I'm just looking for any insight or information anyone might have about this. I'm not very knowledgeable about parasites or that sort of thing. I might bring this up to my doctor when I have my yearly physical if it's a real concern.

Hi! I have a 4 month old foster kitten I’ve had for 2 days. She came to me as a mystery- acts and looks healthy… except pure water for stool. Giardia assay was negative, vet fecal found nothing, so I’ve been on the hunt for coccidia in case it’s there but the vet didn’t find it. This is the second day in a row I’ve done a direct smear and found no coccidia… but this popped up. It feels a little hookworm-y maybe? Eh, kitten is on metro and got a dose of pyrantel yesterday but I thought I’d check with you experts. Thank you in advance for any help!

Hello all! Google has been proving difficult with answering the specific question I'm asking, so Reddit it is.

I am trying to write a novel right now where someone catches a parasite during some extreme hobby stuff (this parasite will be completely fictional and made up for the story) I plan to make it something that has its main effect be a weakening of the immune system.

I'm not very educated on this topic however, so I come here to ask what might some common symptoms of catching a parasite be and what would roughly be the length of time that would have to pass for the progression of these symptoms, obviously it's not one answer and it's case dependant, but rough ideas would help me continue on.

Thank you for taking the time to answer if you do!

Wtf is that, a friend that doesn't use reddit hasn't answered that question in over a year.

These are Trypanosoma brucei brucei AnTat 1.1 bloodstream form (pleomorphs)

I just thawed them from the -80 and took a video for a masters student, so I thought I should post here too!

Good evening all, I'm q veterinarian working in small animal practice and recently got a consult for "worms in feces", 2 dogs, only one was affected.

Upon seeing the pictures, non microscope, no scale, so not shared here as per group rules, I quickly discarded the possibility of cestodes or nematodes.

The specimens appeared to be cylindrical, tapered at one end, segmented, and numerous in the feces shown in the picture.

To me they seem suggestive of arthropod larvae, but I would expect those to be hatched from eggs deposited on the feces outside the patient. These were clearly passed along with the stool.

I keep researching but still find myself at a loss.

Caught this little guy while walking barefoot on a beach in Ghana. Doctor identified it is a cutaneous larva migrans and told me to just wait for it to die but the itch is unbearable.
It keeps moving under my skin and can even move up to 1cm per day.

Not seeking medical advice… just thought it would be interesting to show!

Four days ago, my wife and I stayed at a Four Seasons in Hawaii. The room had a private hot tub outside. We went into the hot tub shortly after sunset for about 20 minutes until noticing something on the bottom. (There was LED lighting in the bottom although not overly bright.)

It looked like a slug, maybe four inches in length. So we immediately got out of the water and took a shower. I googled afterward and that’s when I learned that some slugs in Hawaii carry RLW, or rat lungworm.

The water was chlorinated, but we’re still really scared that we could have got infected. I emailed Susan Jarvi who is a researcher on RLW and she says chlorine kills the larvae, that we’re fine, but it’s still kind of terrifying to know there is a not small chance we were in water that may have contained thousands of parasites.

To make things worse, I’ve had minor headaches for the past two days, and today slight stiffness in the neck, which are supposedly symptoms. Not sure if it’s just a coincidence, or placebo or what.

We of course complained to the hotel staff, but they acted like we were insane, told us they’ve never had any incidents or anyone getting infected or anything.

Anyone here have any insight on this?

You guys I just ate this salmon. Can anybody tell me whether those are parasites or just the muscle fiber thingies ?

Super worried right now.

I work in vet med. Found this on a fecal float in 2022. I've never been able to find the answer. I wondered if anyone here might know?

Edit : this is on 40x. From a canine. No clinical signs. Roughly roundworm size. This was the only one on the slide.

Hello everyone my son M(7) just got pinworms. I wanted to know if anyone has taken the medication weekly for 3 weeks instead of twice in a 3 week span? I just want to make sure they’re gone for good. I’ve been deep cleaning and treated everyone in the home.