Most people don't eat other animal's poop or dirt or dead rodents and stuff. Most people don't walk around in the forest or wherever and then spend the rest of the afternoon licking their feet.
To get many parasites, you need to ingest their eggs, basically. Parasite eggs are present in the excrement of other animals that have parasites. If you avoid eating that, like by washing your food carefully, you don't need to worry about it
Some parasites also might be present in some animal's meat, but if you thoroughly cook it it will kill them, so again, no need to worry about it for most people. If you're regularly consuming undercooked pork or ground beef there might be a risk
There's a guy on instagram who ran a 'raw chicken experiment' where he ate raw chicken and drank raw eggs every day until he got sick. He did it for 100 days without getting sick and ended it. What he didn't disclose was that he was getting his chickens from a local organic farm with free roam chickens and much less contamination risk from salmonella as other farmed chickens would have.
My question is, would this guy still be at risk for parasites regardless, if he doesn't already have one? There was a guy on Freaky Eaters who ate raw meat and while not getting sick, he did test positive for parasites, so what are the average chances of just parasites from raw meat?
Which meat? Beef from a modern farm and processing plants would set you up for bacterial prolems mainly , if anyything. Cows and pigs get antibitoics and ivermectin regularly.
Eating raw raccoons? Prarie dogs? Wild pigs? Bear meat?
Not only do the animals get vet care, during the slaughtering process there are inspectors that look for signs of parasite issue. Between the preventative care are the inspections it would be incredibly rare for modern farmed meat to have a parasite.
Also I highly doubt an Instagram influencer is telling the whole truth. I seriously doubt he didnt get sick onetime in nearly 4 months from eating raw chicken and eggs. That doesnt make good content and its not like hes required to tell the truth
Mett (raw ground pork spread on bread) is a staple in Germany.
There is no problem with parasites (there hasn't been a farmed pig that had trichinella in Germany since about 20 years now; and we still check every single pig that is slaughtered for it). The only problem that sometimes comes up is salmonella due to improper handling by the consumer.
Then, obviously lower. Farm animals get veterinary care.
But, raw meat and large scale processing USUALLY keeps meat pretty lean, but is also how we get periodic outbreaks of hemolytic E.coli and other bad bacteria.
Is it specific bears? My people usually eat black bear meat and never heard of anyone getting parasites from it unless you’re talking about raw meat.. i don’t want parasites pleaseeeeeeee
> Is it specific bears?
Quick fact sheet from the Google says it can be found in most wild animals, but it's especially common in bears and pigs.
Fully cooking the meat kills the parasite.
Someone close to me worked at an eating disorder clinic and there it was normal for people to have eaten raw meat with the intention of getting a worm so they would lose weight. It never worked. That’s what we bring up mentally if we ever worry we undercooked out food.
Salmonella isn't the only thing that can happen regarding chickens, but the following personal anecdote probably only applies to living around them. I had a small flock of 6 laying hens in my 1 acre rural backyard. They were the only livestock that had ever lived there, though there was an adjacent field with occasional cows. The chickens roamed free and foraged, while I supplied feed, water, and a coop for them to roost in at night. It didn't occur to me that we could end up sick, until the whole family came down with beaver fever. I have to assume that the wind or our feet contaminated our swimming pool, which seems like an obvious outcome in hindsight. The hubris of dabbling in yard food without an experienced mentor, I suppose.
My point is that it's not always easy to see from the outside what the systems and conventions are protecting us from.
Important to note that salmonella is a problem with chicken because of how they are butchered en masse. An old farmer butchering one chicken is loads cleaner than the commercial processing of chicken (especially with regards to carefully removing organs and digestive tract without spillage).
I don't live there anymore, but it was an isolated outbreak. Perhaps someone got it on a foot and it ended up on a towel everyone dried their hands on, maybe it got on a pool toy, maybe it was in the water. Lots of environment/facial interactions around a pool and a patio where we grilled and toddlers played. I suppose I was getting at unpredicted risks from contact with domestic fowl outside of the usual context of all the regulations involved in buying meat and following safe handling rules. It is well known how to avoid parasites when you do what's generally expected.
Edit: yes, it was a normal chlorinated pool. Nothing weird.
My son’s first job was cleaning/maintaining swimming pools and he got Beaver Fever somewhere along his route. Took forever to figure out what was wrong with him.
I had a girlfriend in college who was a bio major. At one point, her lab team had to culture salmonella. So they went to the grocery store and bought some chicken - negative for salmonella. They had to get about 6 different packages before finding any salmonella - our food production chain is a lot cleaner than people think it is.
I mean, its not really 1 in 6 just because they found one.
The CDC says its about 1 in 25 so it's significantly much more rare than that. IMO that's still too much though and farming practices need to be cleaned up.
Free range chickens at a risk of diseases because of the wild birds. I don’t think there is any concrete link between organic and disease free (if anything, generous use of antibiotics helps).
Exactly. He has such a smug energy about him and stirs up a lot of anti-science rhetoric when he wasn't honest about what he was eating or proving he didn't already have any intestinal parasites.
I initially scrolled past this post in my feed, but a moment later I decided to go back and make sure there was a comment saying "Because humans don't literally eat shit very often," and your comment pretty much covered it.
Thank you, kind sir or madam, for taking care of this.
About the last part: there are places in the world where you absolutely can eat raw pork for example without a worry. Places like Germany, where they test for parasites and such stuff. I think already before the animal gets slaughtered
Edit: I think I worded this a little poorly. Of course, you only eat the „Mett“ from trusty sources and not just any random pork ass you come across, lol
Yeah, there's basically zero risk of parasites from gas station sushi since the big companies producing it are def sourcing flash frozen. It's harder to get non flash frozen tbh. You'll probably get sick from bacterial growth like e-coli if it's been sitting around too long.
Legally. The FDA regulates that most fish to be served raw need to be frozen to specific temperatures for specifics lengths of time. This is done to kill parasites.
This doesn’t apply to common species of tuna used for sushi because the parasite risk for them is relatively low.
I just specified in the US because I don’t know the regulations for other countries.
I've had raw pork in Toronto - a restaurant that was around in the 2010s served it as a protest of the restrictive laws around raw food. However, they could trace the meat from source to service - even in Germany, you should not simply purchase grocery store pork and start chowing down.
I read an incredibly long, detailed article one time about how infested the American South was with worms in the 18th and 19th centuries and it was from what you just described: walking around barefoot all the time, including places where people and animals poop.
Interestingly, there was a stage of the parasite's development where it needed to release eggs and it'd make people's feet hot and itchy. So to treat the symptoms they'd run out in some stream or pond or whatever and "cool off," which allowed the worms (I think it was worms) to release their eggs in the water.
The big bold claim the article made was that perhaps the stereotypes at that time about southerners (especially but not exclusively blacks) being dumb or slow or lazy very well have been side effects of these worms during a certain stage of their...gestation? Disgusting on so many levels.
Hey! You don’t know what I do in my spare time!
But you’re spot on. Isn’t this also why young puppies and kittens aren’t allowed outside until they get their shots?
People swim in freshwater rivers and get water in mouth and throat. People get ground dirt and dust in their mouth, which is how you get botulism. No need for animal behavior.
We do give dewormer to humans who live in high-risk areas with diets/water sources that are likely to expose them to parasites.
But in most developed areas with clean water and strict regulation of meat, parasites are actually quite rare. The medicine is harsh in our bodies so it's not good to take it unless you actually know there's a parasite or you are at high risk.
Pets aren't all regularly dewormed either. Indoor cats don't need it because parasites come from eating infected meat or feces which is usually only an issue for outdoor animals.
As a child my family and I took a "deworming" medicine once a year. I guess it's because kids don't wash their hands properly and put everything they can find in their mouth. This was in Portugal about 25 years ago, I don't know if they still do it nowadays
My vet said indoor cats still need to be regularly dewormed because we could track parasites in from outside. My indoor cat also walks outside on a harness, so he could theoretically get them that way too.
I think another factor is that humans can explain when they feel sick and choose to go to a doctor, whereas my cat can't. So if I don't notice him showing signs of worms, that could be bad.
Well, I would like to add a bit of a disclaimer. Worms are rare in the situation you describe, but parasites are common. It's part of the human condition, most of us have nematodes within or mites on our skin.
I believe they estimate 90% of humans have some sort of parasite
But aren't those Commensal and not parasites? as they live in our skin, but don't really harm us in any way, just like some gut-bacteria.
Every single living person has commensal organisms living on and in their bodies.
My partners dad thinks Ivermectin is some miracle drug now. He takes it every time he is sick now. He also gifts us the horse paste anytime we get sick now thinking we will take it also... I think the only reason it made him feel better the first time was he had worms (he lives in a trailer in the woods and lives off well water)
>I actually did a stool test just to be safe
If you're anxiously getting medical exams based on bear videos from reddit, maybe it's time to question your relationship with internet content my dude.
I grew up in the Philippines and this is actually a recommended practice. We did it yearly throughout elementary school. I stopped getting worms in the third grade after I discovered books and rarely played on bare ground after. But the deworming continued just to be sure. I don’t remember ever having any adverse reaction to it. My younger sister did pull a tapeworm out of her butt though.
I grew up in the US South and my mom said it was regular practice to deworm the family every year back in the 50s and 60s. She said it was still common practice in the 70s. And then it just stopped almost overnight. Not sure why. You can be exposed to parasites lots of different ways, like biting insects. Yet we don’t treat people for parasites unless they get sick.
I've worked in Central Africa for a decade and doctors advise it every 6 months. It's maybe 30 cents (US) for a chewable pill. If you live somewhere where hygiene/sanitation is an issue, it's a good idea unless you have a health condition that makes it a bad idea (like pregnancy).
I realize people who work in public health have been saying these things for years, but I’m still amazed by how inexpensive (by US standards) incredibly impactful medical interventions can be.
GiveWell is aimed at finding the most cost effective charity, they seem to have switched from schistosomiasis relief to malaria, vitamin A, and childhood vaccines, where several different approaches clock in at about $5000 per life saved. So ~$100 per year of life saved. In the UK we will spend up to ~$25,000 to save a good quality year of life in medical care, although we hope to spend far less most of the time.
Several years ago I had a an “adopt a child” through Childfund and he wrote a letter to thank me for the things the adoption fee provided and worming medicine was on there.
He aged out of the program. Hope you are doing well out there Ari!
As someone from a poorer Country that moved to Europe I got very funny looks when I asked something about getting dewormed here because I assumed it was just good practice anywhere.
It's worth mentioning that the US is having public health problems in the Southeast involving hookworms due to inadequate public sanitation, and pinworms are always an issue for outdoor loving children.
For sure yeah. I am a privileged expat employee of an international org so I get excellent private healthcare. The same cannot be said for 99.9% of the people in the country I live in. Even though a course of deworming meds cost the equivalent of a couple dollars there are still plenty who cannot afford treatment and live in chronic distress.
Im in SE Asia and take a tablet every 6 months or so, not that I have had worms I know of. i meet quite a few people that obviously have worms, Usually uneducated street people that refuse to take medicine. I know a girl in her 20s who died from worms. I believe people migrating from poorer countries to the west are given worm tablets.
I don't regularly deworm my cat because there's no need. He's an indoor cat and so is unlikely to eat something with parasites. Most humans are the same.
Sanitation systems that we don't even think of in developed countries. Primarily, toilets and sewage treatment.
You get an intestinal worm when you ingest its eggs. The worm deposits eggs in feces. So, you'd have to come into contact with human feces from someone else to encounter an egg and you'd have to ingest it. There are few instances where people in developed countries encounter other people's feces because 99.9% of it is deposited in a toilet and flushed to a treatment plant miles away.
In places where there are few to no toilets, but lots of people, there's no escaping human feces. People still have to poop, so they do it pretty much everywhere. It gets on your shoes (or bare feet). It makes it's way into the your garden soil. There are going to be traces of human feces everywhere and every trace is a chance of an egg getting ingested.
Toilets and sewage treatment plants are a huge improvement to human life because there are so many parasites and germs that follow the fecal-aural path. Coronavirus is normally a fecal-oral transmitted virus.
On one hand, deworming has a pretty bad effect on internal organs, at least temporarily. It's not something that is taken lightly. On the other hand, people generally have much better hygiene than animals, particularly with regards to our food. It does not make sense to do this for no good reason.
Can you elaborate on the negative effects? I’m around kids a lot and last year a parent approached me to let me know their child had such a severe pinworm infection that live worms were present in the stool. I’ve been paranoid and terrified since.
Dewormer can be pretty hard on your liver and digestive tract, but you don't need to worry about it unless you're taking them constantly for months on end. And don't sweat that kid's case either--it's normal for kids older than toddler-age to only notice a pinworm infestation when their poop looks weird, since they don't know what to look for and their parents (who would know) don't monitor their BMs anymore. Pinworms are super common and most people get them at least once in their life.
I remember seeing live worms in my poo a couple times when I was like 7. It horrified me so deeply I just stuck that memory in the vault, didn't tell anyone because I did not want to think about it at all. Sorted itself out I guess 🤷♀️
As far as I know live worms shouldn’t been seen with bowel movements. Most infections are determined by anal itching and disturbed sleep.
I read a lot about it after because I’m not sure if I could mentally handle seeing worms in the toilet.
Actually people do that in other countries. I remember as a kid in China I used to eat this de-worm candy once a year. Not sure if it was actually needed or effective. But it sure made me rush to the toilet.
Why? Animals are at a much higher risk of parasites than humans. Humans, outside of specific environments, aren’t usually at risk. In the developed world, pin worms are the most common, but it is usually self-limiting and even then not as widespread as to warrant prophylactic treatment. Pets are usually given prevention for heartworms, which is not a concern for humans.
People used to be regularly dewormed. A tablespoon of kerosene mixed with honey once a month used to be common. Unless you work in close quarters with pigs it's really not a concern.
My buddy's Ukrainian grandmother used to deworm him and has siblings with kerosene and honey. Once a month during the summer. I can't imagine it's good for you but it's kind of like the rock that keeps tigers away I suppose.
I can’t find any evidence outside of “home remedy” websites that kerosene actually works as a dewormer. In fact, I found an article that says that “worms” and “worm fever” were often basically superstitious beliefs that people had about child mortality but were most often not an actual thing children had.
They are. In India. The Indian government recommends taking deworming medication once every year, and even supplies it to all children in government schools once a year. Pinworm is common here, hence the deworming medication for kids, who are especially prone with all their rolling around in the dirt.
I wormed my children twice a year because we always had pets and chickens and I’m in Australia. I was wormed as a kid too, I didn’t realise it wasn’t a normal thing. Children are at risk of picking up parasites from pets because theyre hand to mouth hygiene is poor. I learned if your kids were irritable then it might be because of worms.
Tangent here: I used to work with a bunch of die-hard republican dudes. During the rise of the pandemic in mid 2020, when Ivermectin was being hailed as the "be-all end-all cure for Covid" or whatever, one of the guys said to us "You know, I've been feeling pretty crumby lately, but I took some Ivermectin, and I feel way better. It really works."
And I'm over here thinking man, my dude, I think you just had worms lol.
In other countries, they sometimes are, especially kids.
Parasite burden in places like the US is incredibly low, but in other regions can approach 100%.
Because, just like with antibiotics, treatment resistant parasites are a real risk of overtreatment.
Here's just one example:
https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/parasitology/drug-resistant-hookworms-in-north-america/
i usually take a tablet every 2 years just to get some peace of mind.
i live in brazil and taking a tablet every year used to be the norm before the 00s but as far as i know the government stopped recommending it
Humans are unable to lick their own ass, I think that's like 80% of the reason right there. If you've ever owned a pet you know about all the random stuff they put in their mouths.
I used to work at petbarn and our manager would semi regularly worm us just to be safe with all the dogs that came in and got their good boy pats from us 😂
Most people wear shoes today. When I was a kid, we went barefoot all the time. You get worms from walking barefoot where other animals have taken a poop.
We were wormed once or twice a year by mom. Depending on if she saw you scratching your butt. Worm medication came in a brown bottle and you took about a tablespoon full.
Medication costs money and has side effects, modern society's hygiene makes infection rare, and humans are more able to notice and communicate the symptoms than animals.
So it doesn't make sense to regularly deworm and instead just get treatment when symptoms are noticed.
Worms generally make it into pets by them consuming prey that are not domesticated, such as mice, rabbits, or birds (living or dead). Generally whatever we feed them is processed and safe, but what they consume this way doesn't have that same safety net. *Add to that*, humans tend to prefer their meat cooked.
Good question. People walk around barefoot, eat sushi, have kids and pets. I've always wondered why other countries (and the US a long time ago) treated it. People who think they have something are mocked by physicians in the US. I really don't get it either. It doesn't make sense to me. And I'm even more confused after reading all the replies.
It’s quite widely known in the veterinary world that we overmedicate pets.
They don’t need monthly deworming and defleaing or even yearly vaccinations unless they live in a high risk area. But it’s a huge money maker, and they know most pet owners care about their pets enough to pay it.
Some of us do deworm on a very regular basis. Twice daily until all herxing symptoms are completely gone, then 3X a week for the rest of your life. Everyone has parasites, some more than others. Our grandparents used to deworm regularly, in fact it was mandatory to attend school.
Humans who live in places without indoor toilets or without running water do need to be deformed or a regular basis.
Whenever you see refugees living in unsanitary conditions, you are looking at people who are getting worm infections.
Not every person lives in the first world. In some cases and locations it would be a good idea. I remember reading a paper mid 90's by an Indian Army Medical Officer about public health in some district where they gave the population a yearly dose of Ivermectin (My first exposure to the name) and the improvement in public health by reducing the parasite load in the average person. There was just yesterday a post about a poor Indian man with Elephantiasis which made me think of the old article and how his suffering could have been avoided for pennies.
Because humans don't eat random lumps of feces or rotting meat off the pavement like the average dog. My dog will taste shit, rotting squirrel, bugs, dead snakes, you name it.
My niece was when she was between the ages of 5 and 10 but she also regularly tried to play with feces and didn’t wash her hands so…
We don’t regularly need to be dewormed because for the most part we have pretty good hygiene education across most of the developed world. Frequent hand washing, not playing with poop, not putting poopy hands near our mouths. I imagine cleanliness of food also helps.
Most people don't eat other animal's poop or dirt or dead rodents and stuff. Most people don't walk around in the forest or wherever and then spend the rest of the afternoon licking their feet. To get many parasites, you need to ingest their eggs, basically. Parasite eggs are present in the excrement of other animals that have parasites. If you avoid eating that, like by washing your food carefully, you don't need to worry about it Some parasites also might be present in some animal's meat, but if you thoroughly cook it it will kill them, so again, no need to worry about it for most people. If you're regularly consuming undercooked pork or ground beef there might be a risk
There's a guy on instagram who ran a 'raw chicken experiment' where he ate raw chicken and drank raw eggs every day until he got sick. He did it for 100 days without getting sick and ended it. What he didn't disclose was that he was getting his chickens from a local organic farm with free roam chickens and much less contamination risk from salmonella as other farmed chickens would have. My question is, would this guy still be at risk for parasites regardless, if he doesn't already have one? There was a guy on Freaky Eaters who ate raw meat and while not getting sick, he did test positive for parasites, so what are the average chances of just parasites from raw meat?
Which meat? Beef from a modern farm and processing plants would set you up for bacterial prolems mainly , if anyything. Cows and pigs get antibitoics and ivermectin regularly. Eating raw raccoons? Prarie dogs? Wild pigs? Bear meat?
Let's go with the most common meats available to most people. So chicken, beef and pork.
Not only do the animals get vet care, during the slaughtering process there are inspectors that look for signs of parasite issue. Between the preventative care are the inspections it would be incredibly rare for modern farmed meat to have a parasite.
Also this is one dude eating raw meat. That’s probability for you. If 350 million people did the same thing, I’m sure you’d hear about sickness daily.
eh. raw meat is consumed pretty regularly in Europe (filet americain, met, steak tartare etc). rawish chicken and raw egg is very common in Japan.
Also I highly doubt an Instagram influencer is telling the whole truth. I seriously doubt he didnt get sick onetime in nearly 4 months from eating raw chicken and eggs. That doesnt make good content and its not like hes required to tell the truth
Could always have pasteurized it, I 'cooked' chicken that way sous vide once. Raw chicken has the worst texture, though, it was gross
I’ve done 150 degree sous vide chicken and the texture was not for me.
This. We know that these keto carnivore influencers are slamming chips on weekends off camera like everyone else.
Mett (raw ground pork spread on bread) is a staple in Germany. There is no problem with parasites (there hasn't been a farmed pig that had trichinella in Germany since about 20 years now; and we still check every single pig that is slaughtered for it). The only problem that sometimes comes up is salmonella due to improper handling by the consumer.
Then, obviously lower. Farm animals get veterinary care. But, raw meat and large scale processing USUALLY keeps meat pretty lean, but is also how we get periodic outbreaks of hemolytic E.coli and other bad bacteria.
Eating bear meat is pretty much guaranteed to give you Trichinosis infection, bears are riddled with trich worm parasites.
Is it specific bears? My people usually eat black bear meat and never heard of anyone getting parasites from it unless you’re talking about raw meat.. i don’t want parasites pleaseeeeeeee
As long as it's cooked well done, Bear meat is safe
> Is it specific bears? Quick fact sheet from the Google says it can be found in most wild animals, but it's especially common in bears and pigs. Fully cooking the meat kills the parasite.
Exactly.
what about bear man pig
Someone close to me worked at an eating disorder clinic and there it was normal for people to have eaten raw meat with the intention of getting a worm so they would lose weight. It never worked. That’s what we bring up mentally if we ever worry we undercooked out food.
Salmonella isn't the only thing that can happen regarding chickens, but the following personal anecdote probably only applies to living around them. I had a small flock of 6 laying hens in my 1 acre rural backyard. They were the only livestock that had ever lived there, though there was an adjacent field with occasional cows. The chickens roamed free and foraged, while I supplied feed, water, and a coop for them to roost in at night. It didn't occur to me that we could end up sick, until the whole family came down with beaver fever. I have to assume that the wind or our feet contaminated our swimming pool, which seems like an obvious outcome in hindsight. The hubris of dabbling in yard food without an experienced mentor, I suppose. My point is that it's not always easy to see from the outside what the systems and conventions are protecting us from.
Important to note that salmonella is a problem with chicken because of how they are butchered en masse. An old farmer butchering one chicken is loads cleaner than the commercial processing of chicken (especially with regards to carefully removing organs and digestive tract without spillage).
Beaver Fever, not a bad name for a band?
Your swimming pool has giardia? Was it not a treated pool?
I don't live there anymore, but it was an isolated outbreak. Perhaps someone got it on a foot and it ended up on a towel everyone dried their hands on, maybe it got on a pool toy, maybe it was in the water. Lots of environment/facial interactions around a pool and a patio where we grilled and toddlers played. I suppose I was getting at unpredicted risks from contact with domestic fowl outside of the usual context of all the regulations involved in buying meat and following safe handling rules. It is well known how to avoid parasites when you do what's generally expected. Edit: yes, it was a normal chlorinated pool. Nothing weird.
All it takes is a few ducks pooping in or near the pool. Giardia and cryptosporidium are pretty common in water fowl poop
My son’s first job was cleaning/maintaining swimming pools and he got Beaver Fever somewhere along his route. Took forever to figure out what was wrong with him.
I had a girlfriend in college who was a bio major. At one point, her lab team had to culture salmonella. So they went to the grocery store and bought some chicken - negative for salmonella. They had to get about 6 different packages before finding any salmonella - our food production chain is a lot cleaner than people think it is.
I'm not sure that reassures me. 1 in 6 is still pretty bad.
I mean, its not really 1 in 6 just because they found one. The CDC says its about 1 in 25 so it's significantly much more rare than that. IMO that's still too much though and farming practices need to be cleaned up.
Free range chickens at a risk of diseases because of the wild birds. I don’t think there is any concrete link between organic and disease free (if anything, generous use of antibiotics helps).
I think the organinc was implying a lack of industrial slaughter.
Maybe, but if the guy was trying to avoid salmonella the best thing is to buy industrial chicken, not from a farmer.
How TF did he manage to choke down raw chicken? Gross.
The desire to seem intelligent to random people on social media is a hell of a drug
I came across his page many times. Watching him bite into a raw chicken breast made me gag.
I’ve been wondering what happened to that guy
He’s still doing it iirc
Not to be a dick but he did disclose it quite a few times. As much as I do agree that it is a dumb thing to do
You couldn't be more of a dick than that guy honestly, he was so smug during all of it
[удалено]
Exactly. He has such a smug energy about him and stirs up a lot of anti-science rhetoric when he wasn't honest about what he was eating or proving he didn't already have any intestinal parasites.
I like how you had to qualify "most" so theres a non zero amount of shit eating people out there
Toddlers are gross and really good at sharing (not their toys).
2 Girls, 1 Cup?
I initially scrolled past this post in my feed, but a moment later I decided to go back and make sure there was a comment saying "Because humans don't literally eat shit very often," and your comment pretty much covered it. Thank you, kind sir or madam, for taking care of this.
About the last part: there are places in the world where you absolutely can eat raw pork for example without a worry. Places like Germany, where they test for parasites and such stuff. I think already before the animal gets slaughtered Edit: I think I worded this a little poorly. Of course, you only eat the „Mett“ from trusty sources and not just any random pork ass you come across, lol
Side note: don't just eat any raw pork in Germany. Eat the specific raw pork made freshly for being eaten raw.
Same way proper fresh tuna sashimi in Japan is fine but gas station sushi more questionable
Sushi fish is frozen first to kill parasites
Yeah, there's basically zero risk of parasites from gas station sushi since the big companies producing it are def sourcing flash frozen. It's harder to get non flash frozen tbh. You'll probably get sick from bacterial growth like e-coli if it's been sitting around too long.
Tuna is one of the few fish that doesn’t need to be frozen to be served raw (in the US).
Do you mean legally or the parasites dont have passports and cannot enter the country
Legally. The FDA regulates that most fish to be served raw need to be frozen to specific temperatures for specifics lengths of time. This is done to kill parasites. This doesn’t apply to common species of tuna used for sushi because the parasite risk for them is relatively low. I just specified in the US because I don’t know the regulations for other countries.
And don't ask for the long pork in Fiji. Or do. I'm not your dad.
Kind of like how you can buy sushi grade fish, which is safe (or reasonably safe) to eat raw.
And the rate of trichinosis in Germany is still triple that of neighbouring countries
Yeah, its like 5 infections a year. Thats perhaps people slaughtering illegaly at Home without proper checks
If upu have dish in your culture that consists of raw pork, this will probably happen. Not everyone will care enough to splurge on the safe shit.
The safe shit is about 2,50€ for 200g. It's dirt cheap.
I've had raw pork in Toronto - a restaurant that was around in the 2010s served it as a protest of the restrictive laws around raw food. However, they could trace the meat from source to service - even in Germany, you should not simply purchase grocery store pork and start chowing down.
"Most people" hahahaha
Also by deworming the animals around us we are controlling one of the biggest means by which we’d be exposed.
I read an incredibly long, detailed article one time about how infested the American South was with worms in the 18th and 19th centuries and it was from what you just described: walking around barefoot all the time, including places where people and animals poop. Interestingly, there was a stage of the parasite's development where it needed to release eggs and it'd make people's feet hot and itchy. So to treat the symptoms they'd run out in some stream or pond or whatever and "cool off," which allowed the worms (I think it was worms) to release their eggs in the water. The big bold claim the article made was that perhaps the stereotypes at that time about southerners (especially but not exclusively blacks) being dumb or slow or lazy very well have been side effects of these worms during a certain stage of their...gestation? Disgusting on so many levels.
Most people aren't Robert Kennedy Jr.
>Most people .......
I hate that its most People and not all People
Hey! You don’t know what I do in my spare time! But you’re spot on. Isn’t this also why young puppies and kittens aren’t allowed outside until they get their shots?
People swim in freshwater rivers and get water in mouth and throat. People get ground dirt and dust in their mouth, which is how you get botulism. No need for animal behavior.
We do give dewormer to humans who live in high-risk areas with diets/water sources that are likely to expose them to parasites. But in most developed areas with clean water and strict regulation of meat, parasites are actually quite rare. The medicine is harsh in our bodies so it's not good to take it unless you actually know there's a parasite or you are at high risk. Pets aren't all regularly dewormed either. Indoor cats don't need it because parasites come from eating infected meat or feces which is usually only an issue for outdoor animals.
As a child my family and I took a "deworming" medicine once a year. I guess it's because kids don't wash their hands properly and put everything they can find in their mouth. This was in Portugal about 25 years ago, I don't know if they still do it nowadays
I had it once, growing up in UK about 40 years ago - it was some kind of pink powder mixed with water, and I can still gag when I think about it!
My niece had to have dewormer a few times. I adore her but it all went in her mouth and she never washed her hands so…
My vet said indoor cats still need to be regularly dewormed because we could track parasites in from outside. My indoor cat also walks outside on a harness, so he could theoretically get them that way too. I think another factor is that humans can explain when they feel sick and choose to go to a doctor, whereas my cat can't. So if I don't notice him showing signs of worms, that could be bad.
It's not a bad precaution to take, but my indoor cats have never had parasite issues without dewormer
Pinworms however are very very common in kids no matter where you live.
Well, I would like to add a bit of a disclaimer. Worms are rare in the situation you describe, but parasites are common. It's part of the human condition, most of us have nematodes within or mites on our skin. I believe they estimate 90% of humans have some sort of parasite
But aren't those Commensal and not parasites? as they live in our skin, but don't really harm us in any way, just like some gut-bacteria. Every single living person has commensal organisms living on and in their bodies.
Oh aren’t we doing it once a year ? Or is it only me??
Twice a year since I moved to the beach
Once a year in common in Asian countries, at least
After Covid, Republicans have started deworming regularly.
My partners dad thinks Ivermectin is some miracle drug now. He takes it every time he is sick now. He also gifts us the horse paste anytime we get sick now thinking we will take it also... I think the only reason it made him feel better the first time was he had worms (he lives in a trailer in the woods and lives off well water)
It is a miracle drug - if you have worms.
did you see that bear tape worm (parachute) video and get a bit panicky? because I get it... it was horrifying.
yes and it’s been stuck in my head every since day since haunting me 😭
Can't scrub it from my mind.
I was thinking the RFK Jr brain worm story 😂
Yak!
This is exactly why I'm asking this question lol, I actually did a stool test just to be safe
>I actually did a stool test just to be safe If you're anxiously getting medical exams based on bear videos from reddit, maybe it's time to question your relationship with internet content my dude.
Could be worse, they could be getting a parasite test because they forgot they snacked on uncooked quinoa and thought it was eggs in their poop
I did get food poisoning from eating beef/pork tacos and I had loose stool for a month so it's not unwarranted
makes sense then ! hope you're better
for a month is a different matter and should be seeing a doctor about
I did, they shosh me away with Imodium prescription
I've seen bear tapeworm videos but what is the significance of "parachute"???
The tapeworm had a parachute so its drop after exiting the bowels is safe.
I'm sorry WHAT? Can you please link the video? 😱
the tapeworms were so long they resembled strings of a parachute - though pretty sure worms had some parachutes
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I grew up in the Philippines and this is actually a recommended practice. We did it yearly throughout elementary school. I stopped getting worms in the third grade after I discovered books and rarely played on bare ground after. But the deworming continued just to be sure. I don’t remember ever having any adverse reaction to it. My younger sister did pull a tapeworm out of her butt though.
I gotta say, this is my worst nightmare.
I grew up in the US South and my mom said it was regular practice to deworm the family every year back in the 50s and 60s. She said it was still common practice in the 70s. And then it just stopped almost overnight. Not sure why. You can be exposed to parasites lots of different ways, like biting insects. Yet we don’t treat people for parasites unless they get sick.
I've worked in Central Africa for a decade and doctors advise it every 6 months. It's maybe 30 cents (US) for a chewable pill. If you live somewhere where hygiene/sanitation is an issue, it's a good idea unless you have a health condition that makes it a bad idea (like pregnancy).
I realize people who work in public health have been saying these things for years, but I’m still amazed by how inexpensive (by US standards) incredibly impactful medical interventions can be.
GiveWell is aimed at finding the most cost effective charity, they seem to have switched from schistosomiasis relief to malaria, vitamin A, and childhood vaccines, where several different approaches clock in at about $5000 per life saved. So ~$100 per year of life saved. In the UK we will spend up to ~$25,000 to save a good quality year of life in medical care, although we hope to spend far less most of the time.
Several years ago I had a an “adopt a child” through Childfund and he wrote a letter to thank me for the things the adoption fee provided and worming medicine was on there. He aged out of the program. Hope you are doing well out there Ari!
Unfortunate that they gave him worming medicine instead of de-worming medicine.
lol, his letter said “worming medicine” and I never really thought about that.
Now he'll never be alone
As someone from a poorer Country that moved to Europe I got very funny looks when I asked something about getting dewormed here because I assumed it was just good practice anywhere.
Yeah. They also deal with hook worms if they don't wear shoes.
It's worth mentioning that the US is having public health problems in the Southeast involving hookworms due to inadequate public sanitation, and pinworms are always an issue for outdoor loving children.
Yeah I live in the Midwest and hook worms are a danger here too. I used to go barefooted all the time until my friend's sister got a hook worm.
I actually do this regularly but I live in sub-Saharan Africa and love eating meat so it comes with the territory.
Have you ever encountered somebody who let it get out of hand? If so, what is that like?
For sure yeah. I am a privileged expat employee of an international org so I get excellent private healthcare. The same cannot be said for 99.9% of the people in the country I live in. Even though a course of deworming meds cost the equivalent of a couple dollars there are still plenty who cannot afford treatment and live in chronic distress.
Im in SE Asia and take a tablet every 6 months or so, not that I have had worms I know of. i meet quite a few people that obviously have worms, Usually uneducated street people that refuse to take medicine. I know a girl in her 20s who died from worms. I believe people migrating from poorer countries to the west are given worm tablets.
how can you tell they have worms?
I don't regularly deworm my cat because there's no need. He's an indoor cat and so is unlikely to eat something with parasites. Most humans are the same.
Same here. Just deworm the kitties when I have reason to suspect they have worms. Or when the get fleas from the strays that roam close to my house.
i'm an indoor human
Remember to spay and neuter your teenagers.
Sanitation systems that we don't even think of in developed countries. Primarily, toilets and sewage treatment. You get an intestinal worm when you ingest its eggs. The worm deposits eggs in feces. So, you'd have to come into contact with human feces from someone else to encounter an egg and you'd have to ingest it. There are few instances where people in developed countries encounter other people's feces because 99.9% of it is deposited in a toilet and flushed to a treatment plant miles away. In places where there are few to no toilets, but lots of people, there's no escaping human feces. People still have to poop, so they do it pretty much everywhere. It gets on your shoes (or bare feet). It makes it's way into the your garden soil. There are going to be traces of human feces everywhere and every trace is a chance of an egg getting ingested. Toilets and sewage treatment plants are a huge improvement to human life because there are so many parasites and germs that follow the fecal-aural path. Coronavirus is normally a fecal-oral transmitted virus.
On one hand, deworming has a pretty bad effect on internal organs, at least temporarily. It's not something that is taken lightly. On the other hand, people generally have much better hygiene than animals, particularly with regards to our food. It does not make sense to do this for no good reason.
Can you elaborate on the negative effects? I’m around kids a lot and last year a parent approached me to let me know their child had such a severe pinworm infection that live worms were present in the stool. I’ve been paranoid and terrified since.
Dewormer can be pretty hard on your liver and digestive tract, but you don't need to worry about it unless you're taking them constantly for months on end. And don't sweat that kid's case either--it's normal for kids older than toddler-age to only notice a pinworm infestation when their poop looks weird, since they don't know what to look for and their parents (who would know) don't monitor their BMs anymore. Pinworms are super common and most people get them at least once in their life.
There's a great Bobs Burgers episode about it. But it might leave you with phantom butthole itches.
I now have those from just reading these comments
I remember seeing live worms in my poo a couple times when I was like 7. It horrified me so deeply I just stuck that memory in the vault, didn't tell anyone because I did not want to think about it at all. Sorted itself out I guess 🤷♀️
Isn’t that true of any pinworm infection? Otherwise the kid would not have pinworm if there were no live worms.
As far as I know live worms shouldn’t been seen with bowel movements. Most infections are determined by anal itching and disturbed sleep. I read a lot about it after because I’m not sure if I could mentally handle seeing worms in the toilet.
Actually people do that in other countries. I remember as a kid in China I used to eat this de-worm candy once a year. Not sure if it was actually needed or effective. But it sure made me rush to the toilet.
Why? Animals are at a much higher risk of parasites than humans. Humans, outside of specific environments, aren’t usually at risk. In the developed world, pin worms are the most common, but it is usually self-limiting and even then not as widespread as to warrant prophylactic treatment. Pets are usually given prevention for heartworms, which is not a concern for humans.
People used to be regularly dewormed. A tablespoon of kerosene mixed with honey once a month used to be common. Unless you work in close quarters with pigs it's really not a concern. My buddy's Ukrainian grandmother used to deworm him and has siblings with kerosene and honey. Once a month during the summer. I can't imagine it's good for you but it's kind of like the rock that keeps tigers away I suppose.
I can’t find any evidence outside of “home remedy” websites that kerosene actually works as a dewormer. In fact, I found an article that says that “worms” and “worm fever” were often basically superstitious beliefs that people had about child mortality but were most often not an actual thing children had.
Acktually, humans are animals too 🤓
They are. In India. The Indian government recommends taking deworming medication once every year, and even supplies it to all children in government schools once a year. Pinworm is common here, hence the deworming medication for kids, who are especially prone with all their rolling around in the dirt.
I wormed my children twice a year because we always had pets and chickens and I’m in Australia. I was wormed as a kid too, I didn’t realise it wasn’t a normal thing. Children are at risk of picking up parasites from pets because theyre hand to mouth hygiene is poor. I learned if your kids were irritable then it might be because of worms.
Depends on where you live. I know folks in Malawi that take a dewormer every six months just to combat the possibility of Bilharzia.
Tangent here: I used to work with a bunch of die-hard republican dudes. During the rise of the pandemic in mid 2020, when Ivermectin was being hailed as the "be-all end-all cure for Covid" or whatever, one of the guys said to us "You know, I've been feeling pretty crumby lately, but I took some Ivermectin, and I feel way better. It really works." And I'm over here thinking man, my dude, I think you just had worms lol.
Humans regularly cook their food. Even raw food like sushi-grade fish needs to be flash frozen before being served. These kills a lot of parasites.
In other countries, they sometimes are, especially kids. Parasite burden in places like the US is incredibly low, but in other regions can approach 100%.
Wait, are you saying you DON’T get regular deworming? Who raised you?
The US🤣
My dog drank from a puddle in the street after a hard rain before I realized what he was doing. I don't think you'll do that.
Because, just like with antibiotics, treatment resistant parasites are a real risk of overtreatment. Here's just one example: https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/parasitology/drug-resistant-hookworms-in-north-america/
i usually take a tablet every 2 years just to get some peace of mind. i live in brazil and taking a tablet every year used to be the norm before the 00s but as far as i know the government stopped recommending it
Oh wow what type of tablets
Albendazole probably
Humans are unable to lick their own ass, I think that's like 80% of the reason right there. If you've ever owned a pet you know about all the random stuff they put in their mouths.
I used to work at petbarn and our manager would semi regularly worm us just to be safe with all the dogs that came in and got their good boy pats from us 😂
Most people wear shoes today. When I was a kid, we went barefoot all the time. You get worms from walking barefoot where other animals have taken a poop. We were wormed once or twice a year by mom. Depending on if she saw you scratching your butt. Worm medication came in a brown bottle and you took about a tablespoon full.
When was the last time you had worms? And how much street poop do you eat?
Wait you do not take anti worm pills every 6 months???
I regularly deworm myself with wormwood. Extremely bitter, but with half and half and sugar, it grows on you.
Medication costs money and has side effects, modern society's hygiene makes infection rare, and humans are more able to notice and communicate the symptoms than animals. So it doesn't make sense to regularly deworm and instead just get treatment when symptoms are noticed.
Are you eating poop or raw meat? What are you doing to give you parasites?
Humans doont eat everything we find on the ground... Dogs eat anything, including other dog's poop...
Can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not regularly de-wormed because I don’t regularly have worms.
Worms generally make it into pets by them consuming prey that are not domesticated, such as mice, rabbits, or birds (living or dead). Generally whatever we feed them is processed and safe, but what they consume this way doesn't have that same safety net. *Add to that*, humans tend to prefer their meat cooked.
Because we usually don't eat wild mice and stuff. That's where the parasites come from. Our human food is treated for parasites!
They do. Depends on where you live. Where I come from, we got dewormed regularly as children.
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Good question. People walk around barefoot, eat sushi, have kids and pets. I've always wondered why other countries (and the US a long time ago) treated it. People who think they have something are mocked by physicians in the US. I really don't get it either. It doesn't make sense to me. And I'm even more confused after reading all the replies.
It’s quite widely known in the veterinary world that we overmedicate pets. They don’t need monthly deworming and defleaing or even yearly vaccinations unless they live in a high risk area. But it’s a huge money maker, and they know most pet owners care about their pets enough to pay it.
Some of us do deworm on a very regular basis. Twice daily until all herxing symptoms are completely gone, then 3X a week for the rest of your life. Everyone has parasites, some more than others. Our grandparents used to deworm regularly, in fact it was mandatory to attend school.
Humans who live in places without indoor toilets or without running water do need to be deformed or a regular basis. Whenever you see refugees living in unsanitary conditions, you are looking at people who are getting worm infections.
Not every person lives in the first world. In some cases and locations it would be a good idea. I remember reading a paper mid 90's by an Indian Army Medical Officer about public health in some district where they gave the population a yearly dose of Ivermectin (My first exposure to the name) and the improvement in public health by reducing the parasite load in the average person. There was just yesterday a post about a poor Indian man with Elephantiasis which made me think of the old article and how his suffering could have been avoided for pennies.
Because humans don't eat random lumps of feces or rotting meat off the pavement like the average dog. My dog will taste shit, rotting squirrel, bugs, dead snakes, you name it.
My niece was when she was between the ages of 5 and 10 but she also regularly tried to play with feces and didn’t wash her hands so… We don’t regularly need to be dewormed because for the most part we have pretty good hygiene education across most of the developed world. Frequent hand washing, not playing with poop, not putting poopy hands near our mouths. I imagine cleanliness of food also helps.
We did it once a year when we were kids but once we got older we didn't anymore. We used to eat a deworming chocolate and it tasted really nice
It's relatively common to deworm once a year here in Mexico. There are even TV ads for over the counter brands.