Pretty Parasites with Bobbi Pritt, M.D.
In honor of Halloween, Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Consultant in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, shared her "freaky favorite" parasites ranked from 1 (not too scary) to 5 (bad-news bugs).
Ascaris worms
Freaky factor 1/5: Easy to treat with medicine and maybe, possibly helpful to humans.
Scalp explorers

Freaky factor 2/5: Sure, they crawl around on your head sucking your blood, but they’re somewhat easy to get rid of. Plus, they’re pretty cool to look at.
"Beaver fever" creature feature

Freaky factor 3/5: Comes from poop and can last a few weeks. But it’s easy to prevent with hand washing and good hygiene.
Love bugs

Freaky factor 4/5: These worms have a cute love story. But they get into the body through the skin (yikes) and their babies are seriously bad news.
Bad-news bugs

Freaky factor 5/5: A no good, terrible, rotten, very bad disease.
These articles originally appeared on the Mayo Clinic News Network.