One study suggests that a tenth of them may already be doomed to extinction in the next 50 years due to climate change, loss of their hosts, and deliberate attempts at eradication, and other estimates suggest that up to a third could disappear. But right now it seems few people care—or even notice.
But, a world without earthworms? Arguably without earthworms in our soils, life could vanish pretty quickly. We would have less food, more pollution, and more flooding. No matter how cute a panda looks, it is Darwin's “lowly” earthworms that are doing dirty, but crucial, work in the soil below.
Adult worms may live up to 17 years in the human body and can continue to make new microfilariae for much of this time. Most people with loiasis do not have any symptoms.
Parasite extinction would have an adverse effect on any ecosystem. This goes for both pathogenic and non-pathogenic types, however much some of us may want the pathogenic ones gone. There would be negative effects on biodiversity as the number of species dwindled.
Consider that parasites play an important role in regulating the populations of their hosts and the balance of the overall ecosystem. First, they kill off some organisms and make others vulnerable to predators.
About half the world's population (over 3 billion people) are in infected with at least one of the three worms forming what Columbia University parasitologist Dickson Despommier calls the "unholy trinity"—large roundworm, hookworm and whipworm.
Humans are the only host of threadworms. The adult worms live in the lower intestine, coming out of the anus at night to lay their eggs. Children with threadworms can get the eggs under their fingernails when scratching their itchy bottoms at night.
Although much of the epigenetic makeup, including DNA methylation, is determined during cellular differentiation and development, parasites may induce changes in the DNA methylation profile of mature immune cells that can alter the accessibility of transcription factors to genes (Morandini et al.
Climate change could make flea collars obsolete. A mass extinction of fleas, ticks and roundworms and other parasites might sound like a good idea to pet owners, but it could have devastating consequences for the Earth. It could happen.
"Now we understand the tick genetics, we can combat it more effectively and either reduce the number of ticks or perhaps completely eradicate the species and thus the diseases it transmits," says Grimmelikhuijzen, who estimates that the tick might be extinct in 15 years.
Some flatworms do, even if it means no sex. British scientists have found that a species of flatworm can overcome the process of ageing to become potentially immortal and say their work sheds light on possibilities of alleviating ageing and age-related characteristics in human cells.
They burrow during the day—typically keeping close to the surface—capable of digging down as deep as 6.5 feet. The worm's first segment contains its mouth. As they burrow, they consume soil, extracting nutrients from decomposing organic matter like leaves and roots.
However, parasitic infections still occur in the United States, and in some cases, affect millions of people. Often they can go unnoticed, with few symptoms. But many times these infections cause serious illnesses, including seizures, blindness, heart failure, and even death.
Treatment to get rid of worms
If you have worms, a GP will prescribe medicine to kill them. You take this for 1 to 3 days.
While some people may not think them the most attractive of animals, worms play a vital role. These fantastic burrowing creatures are the living, breathing, engineers of the underworld, eating and recycling organic matter to keep our soil healthy.
Worms help to create good soil structure
Earthworms burrow into soil, which creates air pockets. These tunnels aerate the soil, allow water to drain and decrease the rate of erosion by up to 50 percent, which reduces runoff and prevents drought, flooding and other harmful effects of climate change.
Some humans are resistant to or immune to flea bites. They can live with the fleas and not even be aware of them. But most people are very sensitive to flea bites. Flea bites are most likely to be found on the legs, feet and ankles of people in flea-infested areas.
A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens. As well as being voracious and ecologically important predators, wasps are increasingly recognised as valuable pollinators, transferring pollen as they visit flowers to drink nectar.
Imbalance in ecology
Ants scavenge on tiny organisms and prey on insects larger than them – this behavior helps create an ecological balance. Additionally, ants are the foundation of the food pyramid. If ants went extinct, the food chain would collapse, and it would affect every organism.
Some animals can shift behavioral or biological features or totally change sex in some cases. In new work, scientists using the common research model C. elegans, a nematode worm, have identified a molecular switch in brain cells that toggles sex states when required.
Several previous studies have shown that chronic toxoplasmic infection may be associated with human behavior alterations, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or even schizophrenia [10, 11]. Infection can also lead to other neurodegenerative symptoms including memory impairment [12] and cognitive decline [13].
One study showed that patients infected with helminths experienced fewer symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) than those who were not infected. Other results suggest that certain parasitic species could reduce the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's disease, Type 1 diabetes and even arthritis.
About threadworms
Threadworms, also known as pinworms, are tiny parasitic worms that infect the large intestine of humans. Threadworms are a common type of worm infection in the UK, particularly in children under the age of 10. The worms are white and look like small pieces of thread.
Some are caught from food. You can get infected by: touching objects or surfaces with worm eggs on them – if someone with worms doesn't wash their hands. touching soil or swallowing water or food with worm eggs in it – mainly a risk in parts of the world without modern toilets or sewage systems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends periodic deworming of all children living in endemic areas once a year when the prevalence of soil-transmitted parasitic worms in the community is over 20 percent, and twice a year when it is over 50 percent.