Parasitic Diseases

How to Get a Species Named after You - Scientific American How to Get a Species Named after You - Scientific American Posted: 30 Sep 2019 09:00 AM PDT In 200 years, Beyoncé might be gone and forgotten, but a horsefly species, Scaptia beyonceae , will still be carrying her name. Many celebrities have their names associated with some kind of animal species: The frog species Hyla stingi is named after Sting. The spider species Pachygnatha zappa is named for Frank Zappa. There are at least nine species named after former president Barack Obama, including a parasitic worm ( Paragordius obamai ), an extinct lizard ( Obamadon gracilis ) and a blood fluke found in turtles ( Baracktrema obamai ). Having a species named after you seems pretty cool. But if you aren't a celebrity, how do you make that happen? And why would you even want to? One answer to the latter is that having your name on a species allows you to leave behind a legacy, ...

Parasite in paradise: Rat lungworm disease confirmed in three Hawaii visitors - CNN Parasite in paradise: Rat lungworm disease confirmed in three Hawaii visitors - CNN Posted: 27 May 2019 12:00 AM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content] Parasite in paradise: Rat lungworm disease confirmed in three Hawaii visitors    CNN You are subscribed to email updates from "What is the most common parasitic infection" - Google News . To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now . Email delivery powered by Google Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

Obstacles to disease eradication - Science Daily Obstacles to disease eradication - Science Daily Posted: 03 Sep 2019 12:00 AM PDT No drug can cure a paradox. That basic truth is at the heart of a new Stanford-led study highlighting how poverty traps make it impossible to eradicate a potentially deadly disease with current approaches. The study, published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene , looks at why years of mass drug administration in Senegal have failed to dramatically alter infection rates of schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that lurks in waterborne snails and affects more than 200 million people worldwide. It finds that neither drugs nor people's relatively sophisticated understanding of disease risks can overcome the inevitable exposure caused by imperatives of subsistence living. The researchers call for greater focus on the role of socio-economic and environmental systems, and engaging communities in...

Case Closed: You Can't Make a Knife Out of Frozen Poop - SAPIENS Case Closed: You Can't Make a Knife Out of Frozen Poop - SAPIENS Posted: 17 Sep 2019 12:00 AM PDT I n what might constitute the year's strangest salvo against the scourge of "fake news," anthropologists have experimentally tested whether you can really make a knife out of frozen excrement. They conclude that you cannot. B ack in 1998, University of British Columbia anthropologist and popular writer Wade Davis recounted in his book Shadows in the Sun a tale told to him by an Inuit man named Olayuk Narqitarvik. The story tells how an elderly man refused to move into a settlement back in the 1940s or '50s, planning instead to live alone on the ice. In an attempt to prevent him from staying, the account goes, his family took away all his tools. "So in the midst of a winter gale, he stepped out of their igloo, defecated, and honed the feces ...

Why it is crucial to get children dewormed, especially in India - Firstpost Why it is crucial to get children dewormed, especially in India - Firstpost Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:06 AM PDT At least 241 million children below the age of 14 years are at high risk of getting stomach worms in India. Researchers say this is because our soil quality and temperature are conducive to worm growth - poor sanitation also adds to the risk. Looking at this, the government of India had launched a National Deworming Drive in 2015. As part of this initiative, all children aged 8-19 are given deworming tablets at schools and in Anganwadi centres. Representational image. Image source: Getty Images. Now, a study in  The Lancet  — a well-regarded science journal — has again drawn attention to the importance of deworming in tropical countries. According to the study, maternal education and wealth are big determinants of whether young children get proper trea...

Cincy pet lovers: We're No. 1 for heartworm on a national tracking list - Cincinnati.com Cincy pet lovers: We're No. 1 for heartworm on a national tracking list - Cincinnati.com Posted: 13 Feb 2019 12:00 AM PST CLOSE Do you know the life cycle of heartworms?   (Photo: CONTRIBUTED BY PIXSHARK) Listen up, pet owners. The Cincinnati area landed in the No. 1 spot on a parasite disease list for dogs and cats. The Companion Animal Parasite Council reports that over the last 30 to 45 days, Cincinnati had the highest percentage increase of positive heartworm test results in the nation. This finding is from the CAPC Top 10 Cities Heartworm Report. The CAPC is the nation's leading source on parasitic diseases that threaten the health of pets and people. Heartworm disease is transmitted by mosquitos and is a national threat to pets, according to Dr. Michael Yabsley, a CAPC board member an...

Toxoplasma 'cat poo' parasite infects billions – so why is it so hard to study? - The Conversation - UK Toxoplasma 'cat poo' parasite infects billions – so why is it so hard to study? - The Conversation - UK Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:00 AM PDT What if I told you that there is a good chance you are carrying a parasite that is transmitted through cat poo? Two billion people around the world carry Toxoplasma gondii so there may be more than a 25% chance that it is in your body too. Toxoplasma is closely related to Plasmodium , the parasite that causes malaria. But while Plasmodium is quite fussy about where it lives, only able to survive in liver cells and then in red blood cells , Toxoplasma doesn't much care. It muscles its way into just about any type of cell. But it's also very hard to isolate Toxoplasma from the cells that it infects. So I'm trying to find a method to increase the amount...