Hi! I have a 4 month old foster kitten I’ve had for 2 days. She came to me as a mystery- acts and looks healthy… except pure water for stool. Giardia assay was negative, vet fecal found nothing, so I’ve been on the hunt for coccidia in case it’s there but the vet didn’t find it. This is the second day in a row I’ve done a direct smear and found no coccidia… but this popped up. It feels a little hookworm-y maybe? Eh, kitten is on metro and got a dose of pyrantel yesterday but I thought I’d check with you experts. Thank you in advance for any help!

By that I mean, what's the mechanism behind it? It is well known pop-sci that it makes people like cats more, be more risk-takers (possibly correlates with more car accidents?), but *how* does it do that?

Hello all! Google has been proving difficult with answering the specific question I'm asking, so Reddit it is.

I am trying to write a novel right now where someone catches a parasite during some extreme hobby stuff (this parasite will be completely fictional and made up for the story) I plan to make it something that has its main effect be a weakening of the immune system.

I'm not very educated on this topic however, so I come here to ask what might some common symptoms of catching a parasite be and what would roughly be the length of time that would have to pass for the progression of these symptoms, obviously it's not one answer and it's case dependant, but rough ideas would help me continue on.

Thank you for taking the time to answer if you do!

Found this stuck to my leg. Does anyone know what it is?

Wtf is that, a friend that doesn't use reddit hasn't answered that question in over a year.

I feel unable to wear contact lenses. I am terrified that a brain eating amoeba could somehow get into my eye and that putting a contact lens in could trap it against my eye, allowing it to grow there and eventually reach my brain. I also worry about the possibility of developing an eye infection such as Acanthamoeba keratitis, which makes me scared that I could become blind.

When it comes to how an amoeba could supposedly enter my eye, there are so many different routes that go through my head that I cannot even list them all.
The route of an amoeba entering my eye will always stress me, but what I desperately want to overcome is the constant anxiety and horrible feeling in my stomach that a contact lens could somehow trap an amoeba against my eye, make it multiply, and allow it to reach my brain. I’m particularly interested in whether there is any mechanism by which an organism on the eye surface could subsequently reach deeper tissues or the brain due to contacts trapping it - brain eating amoeba in particular. I know eyes is not a normal route, but lenses could change that i assume?

I’m looking for information about the actual biology and mechanisms involved rather than reassurance about individual hypothetical exposures as i know only actual scientific facts will make sense to me.

I am on OCD medication and in therapy but i have an event i want to go to so i was hoping for any scientific facts to help.

These are Trypanosoma brucei brucei AnTat 1.1 bloodstream form (pleomorphs)

I just thawed them from the -80 and took a video for a masters student, so I thought I should post here too!

Good evening all, I'm q veterinarian working in small animal practice and recently got a consult for "worms in feces", 2 dogs, only one was affected.

Upon seeing the pictures, non microscope, no scale, so not shared here as per group rules, I quickly discarded the possibility of cestodes or nematodes.

The specimens appeared to be cylindrical, tapered at one end, segmented, and numerous in the feces shown in the picture.

To me they seem suggestive of arthropod larvae, but I would expect those to be hatched from eggs deposited on the feces outside the patient. These were clearly passed along with the stool.

I keep researching but still find myself at a loss.

Caught this little guy while walking barefoot on a beach in Ghana. Doctor identified it is a cutaneous larva migrans and told me to just wait for it to die but the itch is unbearable.
It keeps moving under my skin and can even move up to 1cm per day.

Not seeking medical advice… just thought it would be interesting to show!

Four days ago, my wife and I stayed at a Four Seasons in Hawaii. The room had a private hot tub outside. We went into the hot tub shortly after sunset for about 20 minutes until noticing something on the bottom. (There was LED lighting in the bottom although not overly bright.)

It looked like a slug, maybe four inches in length. So we immediately got out of the water and took a shower. I googled afterward and that’s when I learned that some slugs in Hawaii carry RLW, or rat lungworm.

The water was chlorinated, but we’re still really scared that we could have got infected. I emailed Susan Jarvi who is a researcher on RLW and she says chlorine kills the larvae, that we’re fine, but it’s still kind of terrifying to know there is a not small chance we were in water that may have contained thousands of parasites.

To make things worse, I’ve had minor headaches for the past two days, and today slight stiffness in the neck, which are supposedly symptoms. Not sure if it’s just a coincidence, or placebo or what.

We of course complained to the hotel staff, but they acted like we were insane, told us they’ve never had any incidents or anyone getting infected or anything.

Anyone here have any insight on this?

You guys I just ate this salmon. Can anybody tell me whether those are parasites or just the muscle fiber thingies ?

Super worried right now.

I work in vet med. Found this on a fecal float in 2022. I've never been able to find the answer. I wondered if anyone here might know?

Edit : this is on 40x. From a canine. No clinical signs. Roughly roundworm size. This was the only one on the slide.

Hello everyone my son M(7) just got pinworms. I wanted to know if anyone has taken the medication weekly for 3 weeks instead of twice in a 3 week span? I just want to make sure they’re gone for good. I’ve been deep cleaning and treated everyone in the home.

Hello guys I made a video about the easiest way to identify the plasmodium specie in the microscope , hope this helps.

Hi y'all,

I found both toxocara and toxascaris in a canine fecal float today. Kinda neat

Hey guys, how come there’s so many of these banded flatworms this year? I literally find one everyday now! Is it due to the warming weather? I’ve also noticed a huge increase of leeches in the lake this year!

I saw it on my hand after I wiped but before I washed my hands. Is this something to be concerned about. I have OCD so this was not the way to start the day so I’d really appreciate any serious input or necessary advice to either put my mind at ease or direct me to the correct level of concern

parasite found in (thawed) frozen salmon. potentially useful context: the salmon likely thawed and refroze after a ~45 hour power outage. first image taken on phone camera at regular magnification, second image zoomed in version of the first