Like any normal water flea, Georgia enjoyed midnight
swims and doing water exercises in quiet pools of water. Unbeknown to her, she
houses a microscopic larva called the guinea worm. An elderly man enters the
pool for a few laps. While performing the front stroke he gasps and swallows
some pool water. Along with the chlorine, he ingests our friend Georgia and her
baby parasite. The stomach acid in his body dissolved the water flea and the
worm larva migrates down to the connective tissue, finding some soft cavity of
flesh to burrow into.
It begins growing. And growing.
A year goes by and the old man continues golfing and
playing with his grandchildren while growing deeper laugh wrinkles around the
eyes. The full sized guinea worm has now grown as tall as his three year-old
granddaughter. Being so large, cramped inside a human body is no place for an
adult guinea worm. The parasite tunnels through to the surface of the skin and
creates a blister along with a burning sensation. This makes the old man want
to dunk his leg into some water. This is exactly what the worm wants. When it
senses that the limb is immersed, the worm wriggles through, pokes its head out
of the blister, and releases a milky cocktail into the water, containing
hundreds of thousands new larvae. More Georgias promptly eat them and the
process starts all over again.
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| http://www.redpepper.co.ug/?p=1065 |
This is just one type of parasite one may find in
your backyard.
Pathogenic microorganisms, also known as disease
producing bacteria, viruses and parasites that enter water through defecation
by swimmers or the flooding of sewage drains can cause serious health damage. Several
problems include paralysis, heart inflammation, fever and diarrhea. Parasites
vary from tiny, one-celled protozoa to multi-cellular worms that can easily be seen
ranging from 1 micrometer to 2 meters long. They can be consumed from
contaminated food or water, a bug bite or sexual contact. They live protected in
other host bodies such as fish, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, snails or humans and
either manipulate, mutilate, or consume nutrients from us. Some choose a
permanent host and others go through different stages of growth or feeding in
different hosts.
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| http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2012/chapter-3-infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/malaria.htm |
No one likes mosquitoes. Not only do they spread horrifying
diseases like malaria, caused by injecting the parasite Plasmodium into our
bodies therefore disrupting the blood supply to vital organs and causing
fevers, comas or death, but these dirty needles also inoculate filarial worms.
Spending a year maturing in our bodies, these worms finally move into the
lymphatic system. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here’s the kicker. The
lymphatic system is the part of the circulatory system responsible for allowing
our excess fluids to keep moving out of our body. When the worms clog it up,
causing vessels near the lymph nodes to become obstructed and inflamed, tissue
starts inflating like a hot air balloon. As a result and the addition of
gravity, we find ourselves with unbearable enlargements of our legs and
genitalia. In conjunction with this condition’s common name Elephantitis, we can
now lumber around as human elephants, our skin billowing out and folding over
itself. This might be a stretch, but we probably could have replaced the rock
monster in the fight against Tim Allen’s character from Galaxy Quest.
When considering malaria, yellow fever, Dengue
fever, or cholera, most often a picture of a wild tropical jungle swarming with
thirsty mosquitoes or the dirty brown surface waters of many African countries.
The climate and humidity is optimal but it is not restricted to conditions in
the tropics for disease spreading organisms. Serious epidemics have occurred worldwide
since ancient times to the present day Haiti cholera outbreak. Not all cases
result in death. In some cases no symptoms of the disease are seen.
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| http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/typhoid-mary-villain-or-victim.html |
MaryMallon had never intended to inflict pain, but she was a murderer. By the age
of 32 she had killed her first victim, an innocent laundress. In her eyes she
was completely innocent and no one was going to convince her otherwise.
Mary
was born in Cookstown, Ireland in 1869. When she was 15 years old she immigrated
to the United States and became a cook in New York City. From 1900 to 1907 Mary
had a hard time keeping a job. She would move from family to family leaving a
trail of ill household members in her wake. Mary had always been a healthy girl
and during her time spent in the U.S. she maintained a deceptively healthy
appearance.
Her
life became this predictable pattern of getting hired, infecting people and quitting
her job. Three weeks after being hired by a family, a number of residents would
develop seriously high fevers. She would then leave about three weeks after the
outbreak occurred. Her short stay in each home was either due to her removal or
the wise choice to leave before the family chose to fire her. In a period of 6
years she had left eight or more homes with members suffering from fevers,
diarrhea and even death. These were cases of typhoid fever.
Typhoid
is an illness spread by bacteria called Salmonellatyphi. Salmonella, like tropical Mike and Ikes, is consumed by many who
have contaminated water, drink or food. In the early 1900s an estimated 3,000
to 4,500 new cases of typhoid fever were reported in NYC. 3% of typhoid victims
became carriers, which meant that there were around 100 new carriers each year.
Mary Mallon was one of them. Unknowingly Mary was the host of a hungry hoard of
bacteria. Like the ship she took to reach the shores of the United States, she
was shipping multitudes of bacteria to the expectant mouths of those she cooked
for.
The
seemingly harmless act of preparing a meal was the source of severe diarrhea,
fever, abdominal pain, delirium, hallucinations and bloody stools for many who
depended on her for their source of nutrition. Once consumed, this infection traveled,
carried by white blood cells, into the intestines then into the bloodstream
where they get to the liver, spleen and bone marrow. Salmonella typhi
multiplied in the cells of these organs then reentered the bloodstream. Invading
the biliary system, gallbladder and lymphatic tissues of the bowels, they continued
to release bacteria in body waste for years.
An
investigation was made of the outbreaks and Mary was found to have a rare case
of typhoid fever that showed no external effects. Forever remembered as Typhoid
Mary, Mary Mallon had the best opportunity to infect people. As a cook in the
1900s, she made the mistake of not washing her hands thoroughly and many
suffered as a result.
From
a young age we are taught to wash our hands after using the toilet and before
preparing food. In many developing countries there may not be clean water to
wash with or drink, but even in areas that have appropriate sewage disposal, health
education, proper hygiene and good sanitation may have the same issues from
natural disasters such as flooding.
Those of us most likely at risk of parasites or
waterborne diseases include young children, those with weaker immune systems, daycare
providers, International travelers, hikers, campers or anyone else who drinks untreated
or contaminated water whether it be while swimming in lakes or rivers or simply
using ice cubes in your soda. There are many waterborne diseases caused by human
or animal excrement, but it would be a crime to neglect those caused from
chemical pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides or heavy metals such as
lead from pipes.
Nitrates, phosphates, lead and so many other chemicals in
high concentrations can be quite harmful to our health. Water is rarely a huge
source of lead exposure unless the pipes used are old. Unto this day, there is still
no known biological benefit of lead metal to humans. Too much can damage the
kidneys along with the nervous and reproductive systems. Consumption could lead
to high blood pressure or even anemia, an insufficient amount of red blood
cells and transported oxygen to the body’s tissues. Young children or those of
us with weaker immune systems may develop learning disabilities, mental retardation,
convulsions, comas or possibly death.
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_baby_syndrome |
Nitrates are even worse because it is much more frequent
and causes “blue baby” disease. If there are too much fertilizer added that isn’t
taken up by plants, it ends up in the groundwater. If babies drink water that
contains too much, they will lose oxygen flow to their brains and can cause
pulmonary disease (chronic obstructive airway), cardiac failure, severe hypoxemia,
death.
Of
these waterborne and water-related diseases, the bacteria causing diseases are
probably easily cured through the use of antibiotics, unless they adapt and
become immune. The most sustainable and sensible way to prevent these diseases
is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Some ways to prevent
microorganisms from contaminating your body or water source is through vaccines
(oral and injectable), purifying water, having good hygiene and sanitation. Health
education is crucial for all ages whether it concerns washing a child’s hands
or helping a farmer know the optimal amount of fertilizer that his crop can
handle so there is no excess.
Read More:
River Blindness
How To Purify Water
During An Emergency
http://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/EmergencyPreparednessandResponse/Factsheets/WaterPurification.aspx
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| http://www.cartercenter.org/health/river_blindness/index.html |
