Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 August 29

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August 29

Everyone is infected with worms?

I just read from an unverified source claiming that everyone has worms in their body if they haven't been wormed in the past 4-6 weeks. And symptoms are unlikely to be present.

Can anyone point me in the right direction shedding some light on the veracity of these claims. It isn't clear if these worms are the intestinal kind or other types. Nematodes on the skin aren't likely to be too gross. But wrigglers squirming around in your bowel is. Any clarification would be useful.

Perhaps there is a Wiki-tician out there with anatomy experience who might have a had experience handling autopsies and can say for sure. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.12.252.148 (talk) 21:02, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

According to our article Helminths, "over a quarter of the world’s population is infected with an intestinal worm of some sort", citing this paper, for which only the abstract is publically available. Tevildo (talk) 21:12, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

But note that those hosts are not at all evenly distributed among the world's population. In places without sewage treatment and water treatment, intestinal worms are far more common. StuRat (talk) 23:08, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

For an example, go to about 1:35 of this video clip:[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:35, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

What I'm seeing, the idea that everyone is "infected" seems to be a bunk claim made to sell medically spurious "colon cleansing" products. Plus, if a given species of worms was capable of infecting all of humanity (barring those of us whose diets contain enough capsaicin, citric acid, acetic acid, and dietary fiber that nothing short of gut flora can survive), they'd have to be symbiotic (or at least benign). Ian.thomson (talk) 23:47, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

If all else fails, there's always "Ex-Lax: Cleans Like a White Tornado!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:50, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

I'll stick to putting Sriracha on all my Mexican, Indian, and Chinese food, thanks. Ian.thomson (talk) 23:53, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

It does not seem to be true that everybody has worms. This source is one of many citing the figure that roughly one quarter of the world's population has parasitical worms. This problem is largely confined to developing countries with poor sanitation, particularly places where large numbers of people lack indoor toilets and proper waste disposal systems. When large numbers of people relieve themselves outdoors and drink untreated water, intestinal parasites spread easily. Marco polo (talk) 00:10, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

I heard from a reliable source, W.C. Fields, that alcohol kills worms. I shall commence treatment. 24.14.34.144 (talk) 02:48, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

Ah, yes. Attributed to other drunkards as well. I think the punch line to the story is, "If I keep drinking corn, I won't get worms." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:30, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

If you think that's disgusting, ubiquitous and invasive, check out these large biological molecules. You get them from handling dead animals, and if a cute little baby ingests them for long enough, they'll literally take over, transforming it into a gangly, hairless chimp-like creature, driven by the unending obsession to eat corpses and feed the parasite. Even worms fall victim. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:36, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

For further info, see "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:30, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

Exactly. They're not our bodies in the first place. Just a temporary configuration. We say we maintain them, but there are hundreds of other jobs going on it every day that we don't even notice. Our brain self basically just rents the penthouse and does what it can to not topple the building. If mitochondria, bacteria, worms and viruses want to live here, it's not our call. All we can do if we're fed up is leave, and the building finds something else to do. Like grow fruit, or a tail or a trunk. InedibleHulk (talk) 05:52, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

Vaguely related, the old expression, "You don't buy beer, you only rent it." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:02, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

Karen Blixen had a view on that: What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:16, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

A sensationalist news piece my friend shared acts like Demodex brevis is a species-wide infection on our faces. Instead of, you know, a bunch of critters generally causing no trouble and possibly keeping our faces a little cleaner. Ian.thomson (talk) 15:43, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

If I can sensationalize further, when they do very rarely throw a party, it leads to red mange, the go-to scientific explanation for the reddest Chupacabras. I'm not saying we should eradicate this vital species, but what if it had been your adorable puppy? Or worse, Nixon's? And won't somebody also think of the livestock? InedibleHulk (talk) 04:52, 1 September 2014 (UTC)