Keep Safe While Traveling and Avoid Parasites

Worldwide, parasites cause more infections than anything else. They nearly always get into our systems through the mouth, when we unknowing eat or drink microscopic worm eggs or larvae from contaminated food or drink or lick them from our fingers. Once they make their homes in our bodies they fall into two types. There are the residents, such a giardia, roundworms and certain tapeworms which remain in the small intestine. Then there are the transients, which travel to other organs or may lie dormant for weeks after moving in. these can cause serious illnesses and include the pork tapeworm, toxocara and liver fluke.

If you travel abroad you can end up bringing home some exotic little beasts, which will feast on your blood and lay eggs in your organs. Threadworms and head lice are much more common than most people would like to admit, although neither are actually dangerous. Generally the bugs we encounter abroad are much nastier than you would find at home. If you are in southeast Asia you may encounter an aquatic leech. It will crawl into any orifice if can find-mouth, vagina, nostrils, ears-and suck your blood. Even worse, you might be invaded by something you can't even see-a particularly nasty group of amoebae that swim up you nostrils and wriggle into your brain. They destroy brain cells, causing vomiting, fever and usually death. Luckily this condition is very rare.

Swallowing eggs of the pork tapeworm is much more common. It happens when you eat infected undercooked meat or drink contaminated water. The eggs hatch and worms make their way through the blood supply into the muscles, eyes or brain. It is most dangerous when the worms die in the brain, as the immune system detects them as "foreign" and tires to destroy the remains. This causes fits, paralysis and sometimes death. But don't burn your passport just yet.