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Asked by caitiedlad to Sara, Kimberley, Julia on 22 Jun 2011.
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Julia Griffen answered on 21 Jun 2011:
Hey… Worms.. such as tape worms can live inside us.
How do they get there?? We eat them.. they are most common in poor quality meats often due to poor sanitation and most common in poor and developing countries.. No real need to worry about the meat you buy in the UK.. (cats and dogs often get ‘worms’ due to them eating stuff off the ground etc.)
Why do they live in us? Its lovely and warm and they live in our digestive system and eat all the food we eat! It’s an easy life huh!
How do we notice them? symptoms are often weight loss, as the worm is eating all the food we’re meant to be getting.
How do we get rid of them? often they pass through or doctors have medicine to treat it!
Pretty gross though!!
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Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:
Hello caitiedlad! Most people don’t have worms living in them. However, some people do “get worms” – certain kinds of worms are parasites that like to live in other animals such as people. There are lots of kinds of worms that can infect humans. Tape worms are one of the most well known but there are others, ranging from flat worms and hook worm (all infecting the intestinal track) or filarial worms (infecting blood vessels) to eye worms (yes! they actually go in your eye). All of these are nasty, but they are just trying to make a living for themselves as best they can. As far as they can tell, we are nice comfy places to live. Fortunately with modern medicines we can get rid of most of these parasites really easily. And modern, clean living conditions prevent infection.
I am soooo happy for that! Yuck!
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