Comments on: My Thanksgiving dinner post

My Thanksgiving dinner post

troutfishing — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 05:56:46 -0800

My very own parasite "I swear it had two beady eyes on it. And it came out two or three inches, looked around and then retracted. I thought it was a dream, a vision of some sort." The yuck factor of our 'little friends' vs. the yuck factor of Flushing PCB's into your nursing infant through breast feeding ("Study finds a cocktail of potentially harmful man-made chemicals in every person tested in UK...") On our day of public gnawing on bird chunks, I ask : which of the above is yuckier? And does anyone out there have a juicy parasite tale to share?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:07:23 -0800

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:08:33 -0800

I am SO not reading any more of this thread. *shudder*

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:14:13 -0800

Heh... good title... even if I'm going to make sure not to read this thread a couple hours before or after dinner tonight.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:23:11 -0800

I'm with Janet, I'm really sorry I clicked on that link before breakfast. Might a new 4-letter designation might be appropriate here? NSFA: Not safe for appetite?

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:23:51 -0800

JanetLand - You'll be back. I can tell.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:38:07 -0800

psmealey - I thought it was obvious....you must have thought I wasn't being serious about the yuckiness! But hey - it's not Goatse man or tub girl. The BBC didn't have explicit pictures of the worm extending out of the guy's nose or anything, did they? That probably makes it worse - you get to picture it all in your imagination..... I thought the nose-worm anecdote was hilarious....the travel writer chasing the horrified, fleeing waiter down the street while - unbeknownst - he's got a worm poking out of his nose! He street-tackles the hysterical waiter who, driven speechless, is reduced to pointing, in terror, at the nose..... But I think you may have just coined a new Mefi term there - NSFA . I like it. It does the job. There are more where that came from too, like : NSFI (not safe for ideologues) or NSF__ (my instant "do it yourself kit"- Fill in the blank)

By: atom128

atom128 — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:44:10 -0800

this thread really isnt how I wanted to start my day. *sigh*

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:44:29 -0800

I was fascinated at the notion of disgust as an innate defensive mechanism. It brought to mind the "Mr. Yuk" stickers intended as a teaching tool for pre-literate toddlers to prevent them from ingesting attractively colored but potentially lethal cleaning products.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:53:21 -0800

Troutfishing... sorry, I was intentionally being tongue-in-cheek... I knew what I was getting myself into. I just wasn't expecting to see the picture of the tapeworm (yeccchhh!) right off the bat. I think I may forego the oyster stuffing at dinner tonight.

By: trondant

trondant — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 06:54:50 -0800

/me steps out for a box of donuts and a six-pack of Yoo Hoo

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:01:29 -0800

psmealey - No need for sorrow, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth......I knew you knew. And I knew you weren't quite expecting that ! It's a beautifully written piece, that BBC story. Kudos to the unnamed author. But for a picker-upper, go visit the Vibrating Underpants/Orgasmatron thread. It's a cheery little post. Alumshubby - would that "Mr. Yuk" symbol be an outline of a tapeworm?

By: cmonkey

cmonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:10:16 -0800

Well, this is as good a time as any to post some information about the Candiru.

By: biffa

biffa — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:14:57 -0800

I was talking to my housemate about this yesterday. He told me that when he was at school a kid at the next urinal started to pass a tape work through his urinary tract. Apparently it hurt *a lot*. You could see the little fella's head poking out of *ahem* the little fella's head. My friend got a teacher.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:15:33 -0800

And does anyone out there have a juicy parasite tale to share? Juicy parasites are the best kind! *runs back to the orgasmatron post for another VURC*

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:16:20 -0800

I knew this would come up. I decided to let someone else have the fun........NSFA COMMENT. WARNING WARNING WARNING. SHUT EYES. WARNING. DO NOT READ. DANGER. DANGER ....too bad the Candiru doesn't exit out the nose though, or.....it would be an almost perfect yuck if it became a sexually transmitted parasite which also exited out the nose. (best during a state of physiological arousal, such as during sex or whilst engaged in a heated shouting match)

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:16:26 -0800

When candirus parasitize humans, it is usually only when they are skinny-dipping while urinating in the water. The candiru tastes the urine stream and follows it back to the human. It then swims up the anus and lodges itself somewhere in the urinary tract with its spines. Blood is drawn, and the candiru gorges itself on both the blood and body tissue, its body sometimes expanding due to the amount of blood. This is all said to be very painful for the poor person who has this happen to him or her. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to remove due to the spines. Amputation of the private areas is the cheapest, and most life-changing, way to remove the fish. *starts googling for 19th century bathing costumes*

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:23:44 -0800

Miguel: WholesomeWear (via Presurfer).

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:26:59 -0800

And does anyone out there have a juicy parasite tale to share? ....I don't know if this counts, but once, in the Himalayas, a parasite and its subsequent anti-biotic caused me to have the most beautiful poo---it was a completely black and white whorl in the shape of a ying-yang symbol. I wish I'd had a camera at the time, and I still get all warm and fuzzy thinking about it.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:28:47 -0800

Parasite stories. There is an evil evil part of me that wants to link to my long comment in the Marriage thread, but that would pretty much destroy my credibility... wait a minute, I have no credibility! This feels so liberating!

By: ascullion

ascullion — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:33:42 -0800

You guys have it easy. Those of us in Britain had to watch the programme (scroll to end)

By: davehat

davehat — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:55:36 -0800

The last time I read a thread like this one, someone linked to the foulest collection of pictures I have ever seen. So I'm outta here....

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:58:00 -0800

I have a friend who was a mormon missionary in central america, where a common practice to handle tape worms was to fast for a day or so, and then sit with a glass of milk next to their face and wait for the little bugger to come out for a drink... and then pull it out (slowly). Another friend was showering when he looked down, and saw his gut buddy dangling from his anus, having a look around. *shudders* I may be biophilic, but I have a no macrobial policy...

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:06:04 -0800

saw his gut buddy dangling from his anus, having a look around. I don't know why, but that is possibly the funniest combination of words ever invented.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:30:38 -0800

My wife has thrice suffered the indignity of being infested with a horrible parasite that attaches itself inside the body and feeds on the blood of its host, growing ever and ever larger as the host's body expands grotequesly to accomodate its never-satisfied hunger, until at last the parasite, having reached a length of ALMOST TWO FEET and a weight of NEARLY NINE POUNDS emerges... FROM THE HOST'S VAGINA! Sadly, the parasites then stick around for another 18 years, consuming nearly everything in the house.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:41:42 -0800

And they know what causes that now, crash...

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:42:22 -0800

Chock full of parasitic goodness! And Crash: perfect - absolutely perfect!

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:43:46 -0800

I just watched this programme earlier today. The whole thing about the guy eating the cyst containing the worm egg was revolting, I mean... flash-back-get-this-frikkin-image-out-of-my-head-please-dear-god, revolting (as was the resulting 7 foot long worm.) I had to eat noodles for my lunch. The flat type. I'm thinking of suing the BBC for trauma.

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 09:05:54 -0800

DenOfSizer, What a heart-warming story! It's a real shame you don't have a pic to post here. [/sarcasm]

By: waldo

waldo — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 09:38:09 -0800

What a strange coincidence: Just a week ago, I spent a horrified hour or so reading all about botflies, for no particular reason. By far, the best resource for horrifying botfly-extraction stories is the site that contains Mark's Human Botfly Infestation Story and botfly stories that people subsequently sent to him. The ones with the photos are the real winners. *shiver*

By: Grimgrin

Grimgrin — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 09:56:38 -0800

This site is a pretty comprehensive list of parasites. Good if you want to find yourself washing your hands a a couple of thousand times a day. I like Ascarias myself. Parasitic worm about the size of a pencil, usually lives in the intestines. It has two interesting features, one is that it's very sensitive to anesthetics, either because it's sensitive to he chemicals or because they trick it into thinking that it's host is dying. So when a patient, unknowingly infected with Ascarias, worms goes in for surgery they'll often start crawling out of their nose, mouth and anus right there on the table. The other problem with them is that they've been known to wander around the rest of the body and try and find a place to live outside the intestinal tract. So you find people with ascarias worms the size of a pencil wandering around their lungs, liver or brain, usually these people are dead shortly after that. Or as a friend on mine put it after a rather sadistic bio prof went into great detail about this... "There are woooorrrmmms EATING MY braaaaaiiinnn" Grimgrin

By: gimonca

gimonca — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 10:48:08 -0800

Another notable parasite is the guinea worm, which still bothers people in parts of west Africa. Traditionally, the way to get rid of your guinea worm is to pull it out through the skin and wind it slowly around a stick. Since breaking the worm while removing can cause severe complications, you have to go very, very slowly--it can take weeks. This worm-on-a-stick meme may have been the inspiration for the Staff of Asclepius used to symbolize the medical profession.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 10:57:10 -0800

Previous site also links to Parasites and Parasitological Resources at Ohio State, chock full of stats, stories and full-color photos from around the world.

By: hoskala

hoskala — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 11:20:31 -0800

Ugh.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 12:06:07 -0800

Well, if the PCBs are already in you, they'll already be in your baby anyway. I'd much rather have some potentialy harmfull chemicals in low quantities then a fucking parasite. yeesh.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 13:25:22 -0800

Ummm...pass the rice pudding, please.

By: tpoh.org

tpoh.org — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 13:38:44 -0800

Best. Holiday. Thread. Ever.

By: kablam

kablam — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 13:44:27 -0800

Boo!

By: kozad

kozad — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 13:49:37 -0800

Well, I heard from my doctor sister about a parasite whose removal (from muscle tissue, I presume) involves wrapping a bit of it around a piece of dowel rod, bandaging it up for a day, then giving it a half-turn, etc., for a couple of weeks until you finally get it out. You can't just yank it out, in other words.

By: Samsonov14

Samsonov14 — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 15:38:38 -0800

Thanks. I'll add this to the list of things I'm totally fucking horrified of.

By: Iax

Iax — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 19:33:22 -0800

a parasite whose removal (from muscle tissue, I presume) involves wrapping a bit of it around a piece of dowel I heard that this was one of the origins for that medical symbol, the staff with the snakes around it.

By: vito90

vito90 — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 19:41:51 -0800

I can honestly say, if I got any of these parasites, I would shoot myself. The good news is, I'm now tasting my Thanksgiving dinner for the second time.

By: gen

gen — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 21:20:07 -0800

Interesting...I always knew of the Caduceus, but had not heard of the Staff of Asclepius until this thread. And that is with 5 years of Latin... Caduceus of Hermes vs. the Staff of Asclepius

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Thu, 27 Nov 2003 21:38:53 -0800

This thread is rad. My many thanks.

By: syzygy

syzygy — Fri, 28 Nov 2003 04:03:46 -0800

cmonkey: Well, this is as good a time as any to post some information about the Candiru. Earlier this Summer, I took a bath in a small Amazon feeder stream in the jungle about a half day outside of Manaus. All I could think about while bathing were the Candiru and giant Anacondas.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sun, 30 Nov 2003 00:15:33 -0800

The God Complex - Thanks, but I'm still trying to spook someone - anyone! - with the apparent fact that fat-soluble PCB's (and other POP's) build up in female breast tissue until they are flushed out by breast feeding. Oh well....so much for babies (CALL the fundamentalist christians....oh, they're busy, you say?.... ) - disrupting infant endocrine systems doesn't compare. Sorry kids. We've got worms.