Parasitic "Co-infections"

Normally when a person is infected with a parasitic disease, people assume that they only have one parasite that is causing them trouble.  However, I read an article about a rare phenomena in which different parasites invade the body at the same time.  This phenomena is called a "co-infection".  To some this may not sound unusual, as it is likely to get sick with different diseases or infections at the same time.  The interesting thing is that in the case of the article I read, the two parasites in a patient were not working together to infect the body, but were competing for the resources in the host.

Mucormycosis: Rare Fungal Infection By Molds

Everyone is familiar with mold fungi.  Mold is just about everywhere we go and we are exposed to it heavily.  People go on walks or hikes and mold fungi is present on tree trunks or rocks.  Normally, mold fungi is harmless to people and everyone either is amazed by it or hates it.  However, some molds can be parasitic and dangerous to certain people, specifically people who have weakened immune systems.  One such rare fungal infection caused by molds is mucormycosis.

Ascariasis: Parasitic Infection Caused By The Human Roundworm

I was browsing through articles about the latest news on certain parasitic infections and I came across an article about a 3 year old boy who had strange abdominal problems.  The article was from last December and stated that the boy had an infection from the intestinal parasite ascaris lumbricoides.  This helminth (roundworm) causes an infection called ascariasis and affects the small intestine.  This infection is common throughout the world and worth mentioning.  This can help everyone be cautious when traveling to places where this infection may be prevalent.

How To Prevent Parasitic Infections

Up until now I have provided you all with information on some unusual parasitic infections that you may or may not have heard about.  All of this parasite talk should make everyone rethink sanitary practices.  The world is full of microorganisms that can cause disease.  Some of these can cause damaging symptoms that can follow you throughout your life.  For this short post, I want to discuss some ways to prevent parasitic infections so that no one has to experience one first hand. 

Rhinosporidiosis: The Confusing Pseudofungal Infection

The microbial world is very strange.  We all know the basic pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, worms, protozoa, and fungi.  The fact is the world is full of my types of microorganisms and sometimes we do not know how to really classify them.

Babesiosis: Parasitic Infection from Ticks

Ticks are among the top insects I hate the most.  I went backpacking once and had ticks on me every now and then and it gave me anxiety.  Ticks are just about everywhere and it is known that ticks carry diseases that can be passed to humans.  There is one parasitic infection caused by ticks that stood out to me and I believe everyone should at least be familiar with it.  This infection is called babesiosis.

Protothecosis: Pseudofungal Infection Caused By Algae

It is frightening to think there are tons of fungi that can cause infections, but to make matters worse, there is a class of organisms that cause infections similar to fungi and are not fungi.  In this blog I have presented many fungal infections, but for this post I will present an interesting infection cause by a pseudofungus that is uncommon but important to know nonetheless.  This infection is called protothecosis.