Health:Should i be concerned?

[Shem]

10th grade biology teacher's insane obsession with flat and round worms finally pays off, we went way too far into detail on parasitic worms.


Sounds like a hookworm to me! You should go to the doctor to get tested.

It's a parasite that burrows through your foot, feeds off your blood and reproduces within you. Eggs exit with your solid wastes. A heavy infection can lead to serious problems, even death and with two years inside you, it could be dangerous but I'm not a doctor so i wouldn't know for sure but that's my opinion.


To avoid getting them, simply wear you're shoes in when in grassy areas, however these don't live in cooler climates, but I don't know where their northern boundary is in north America, all I know is that they aren't here in Minnesota! According to wiki, there is also a species in Europe that enters the body through the mouth.

 

[Gizamimi Pichu]

Hookworms don't enter your body through your foot. :|
And ringworm is just a type of fungal infection that gives you ring-like patterns on your foot. None of them can enter your body like...that.

Actually, roundworm and hookworm larvae (along with blood flukes) can burrow through the soles of your feet, or just skin in general - the feet are the most likely though, since they're coming into contact with the ground and soil, which is where these sorts of things thrive. Even the eggs can be absorbed through your skin like this. =/

Either way, the OP should go get a proper diagnosis - most people with hookworm infections are asymtomatic, which is a problem, since a lot of people probably don't even realize they're infected.

 

[Greene1516]

Geez grandma, no offense but even Jacqueline Wilson could make up a better story than you could. I mean anybody who knows anything knows that worms don't have teeth and wouldn't have even near the strength to just dig through your skin sense they move matter by passing it throught their bodies. Which would mean to dig into your foot it would have had to eat the flesh from your foot and pass it back out onto the very ground you were standing on leaving a gaping hole in your foot; it is not possible for such a thing to happen. Call me a know it all, but it is so annoying to see such stupid threads made for attention purposes. Nothing personal, just it had to be said.

 

[Gizamimi Pichu]

Geez grandma, no offense but even Jacqueline Wilson could make up a better story than you could. I mean anybody who knows anything knows that worms don't have teeth and wouldn't have even near the strength to just dig through your skin sense they move matter by passing it throught their bodies. Which would mean to dig into your foot it would have had to eat the flesh from your foot and pass it back out onto the very ground you were standing on leaving a gaping hole in your foot; it is not possible for such a thing to happen. Call me a know it all, but it is so annoying to see such stupid threads made for attention purposes. Nothing personal, just it had to be said.

Whether or not the OP is lying or not is another question, but I'll say it again: there are parasitic worms (not earthworms, for any measure), that can burrow through the skin.

Also, as an FYI - Yes, they do have teeth - you know, not only for burrowing, but to cling to intestinal walls.

 

[Greene1516]

She wouldn't be able to see a parasitic worm burrow into her foot due to the small size. Also, you don't really find parasites in the garden while you play, as much as the great House tells us otherwise.

 

[The Amazing Scizor]

She wouldn't be able to see a parasitic worm burrow into her foot due to the small size. Also, you don't really find parasites in the garden while you play, as much as the great House tells us otherwise.

Maggots look very much like worms (though of course they are fly larvae), and they can be seen doing such things. See the bot fly.

Not to mention there are many, many parasites that could be found in a normal garden. I don't just mean exoparasites, either, though there are certainly enough of those.

 

[Gizamimi Pichu]

Whereas that may be true for the OP (I'm not contesting if they're lying or not), Guinea worms, and other intestinal worms are large enough to be seen.

Also, for the prevalence of garden parasites, it depends on where the OP is living, if another animal (whether it was a pet, or wild one) had soiled the area more recently, etc - there are a number of factors in this, many of which we don't know.

 

[Greene1516]

Maggots feast on dead flesh.

And the thing about intestinal worms is that they don't enter through the flesh of your foot nor do they come from a garden. The guinea worm is only found in the rivers of African countries and enters the body by swimming up a persons urine by which they can only really get it by pissing in the damn river. Other intestinal worms come from foods, but they do not live in your garden and decide to eat into your foot. And please think before posting again, if an intestinal worm were to try enter through the flesh of the foot it would have to eat its way through the leg muscles to reach the intestine, and from what I read, she hasn't complained of her leg falling off.

 

[Gizamimi Pichu]

I know about how the Guinea worm enters the body - I was just citing an obvious example that yes, a parasitic worm is capable of burrowing through flesh, since you claimed a few posts up that it isn't possible.

I think you really missed the part where I said I wasn't contesting if the OP was being truthful or not - I'm just talking about parasites, now.

Many immature parasitic worms can burrow through the skin. As far as them not being in a garden, you're incorrect about that. Immature parasitic worms live in SOIL, and are often deposited by feces of an infected host. Yes, you can get intestinal parasites from eating contaminated food, but that isn't the only way.

 

[The Amazing Scizor]

Maggots feast on dead flesh.

I said 'see the bot fly'. The bot fly is native to many parts of the world (can even be found in North America) and the maggots burrow through the skin and eat living flesh. They have mostly been destroyed in first-world countries, but can still appear. They're mostly a problem for livestock, but them getting into humans is quite well-documented and dangerous. Oh, by the way - they're entirely capable of going from an extremity to the trunk, even into the heart.

And the thing about intestinal worms is that they don't enter through the flesh of your foot nor do they come from a garden. The guinea worm is only found in the rivers of African countries and enters the body by swimming up a persons urine by which they can only really get it by pissing in the damn river. Other intestinal worms come from foods, but they do not live in your garden and decide to eat into your foot. And please think before posting again, if an intestinal worm were to try enter through the flesh of the foot it would have to eat its way through the leg muscles to reach the intestine, and from what I read, she hasn't complained of her leg falling off.

You're being extremely rude when it's already been shown you're not entirely correct. You're also making a straw-man attack on Gizamimi; she did not say that intestinal parasites would enter through the foot.

Perhaps you ought to try being more polite? At the very least you could acknowledge that you were incorrect about parasitic worms being too small to be seen.

Intestinal worms don't enter through the foot, but those were merely being used as an example to show that worms can have teeth.

 

[Greene1516]

Guys I'm not going to argue. I'm in medical so I know what I am talking about, and can say with 100% certainty that this thread is a sham.

 

[Gizamimi Pichu]

Guys I'm not going to argue. I'm in medical so I know what I am talking about, and can say with 100% certainty that this thread is a sham.

Yes, well, that may be true, but it is my field as well, and I'll repeat myself again - in the above, I wasn't contesting whether or not the OP was lying or not.

 

[TheHolyPeep]

Sir, the CDC disagrees with you:

https://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/hookworm/factsht_hookworm.htm

 

[Jaimes]

like 2 years ago i was playing in my backyard and i didnt have any shoes on and when i came up on my deck i looked at my feet to put my shoes on and then i saw a very tiny yellow worm crawl and dig its way through my skin in my foot. so now its in me and i dont know how many is in me. i dont know if i should be worried or concerned or what not. i dont know anything about worms but one crawling in my foot doesnt sound all that great.

No offence, but if you're questioning whether a worm entering into your foot is normal or not then you can't be too smart.

Guys I'm not going to argue. I'm in medical so I know what I am talking about, and can say with 100% certainty that this thread is a sham.

You're in medical? For someone who seems pretty sure of themselves, a good number of your erroneous posts in this thread could be shot down easily.

 

[ALC_Allstar]

Well if you want my opinion I think you should get it checked out straight away. Its better safe than sorry. I watched this show on animal planet and it was called "Monsters Inside Me". It was scary and gross. The worm ate its way through the persons body and he nearly died from it. Get it check ASAP.

 

[Blazers]

have you had any weird pains at all or sudden sharp pains?
has it felt like anything is "inside" of you?
If not dont be concerned it was two years ago im sure the acids in your body got rid of it.

 

[Lucy Lu]

Yeah you really needed to get it checked out with a doctor immediately! You should have done that when you noticed that they got into your skin. Don't wait two years later. What would happen if the worms were poisonous? Which they are not, I am just saying. It is a serious thing and it needs to be taken care of as soon as possible! But since you waited two years later and you are still here, I guess maybe the worms weren't a threat. But still if that happened to me, I would have gone to a doctor.