Pretty Parasites with Bobbi Pritt, M.D.

By Mayo Clinic News Network • October 31, 2019

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

*Schistosoma haematobium* egg. Note its spine at the bottom end of this image, which allows it to be identified in the lab.

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

The head of an *Anopheles gambiae* mosquito, under a magnification of 114X, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Freaky factor 5/5: A no good, terrible, rotten, very bad disease.

These articles originally appeared on the Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic News Network

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