SNAILS AND THE DISEASE SPREAD BY THEM

 

SNAIL

Of course, you know how strong the animals are, each animal has their own plus point and their own advantage of killing others, they can easily kill humans like lions killing the humans in Africa as the humans are the easiest one for them and cheetahs not listening to the guard in the zoo and killing humans, etc. But there is something that kills the most a number of people than the other animals. It’s a Snail. Though the snails look innocent and calm they are the spreaders of one of the most dangerous diseases called schistosomes.      According to an report from the world health organization stating that around 2 lakhs of people die from the disease related to mollusk and now you know how innocent they are.

Schistosomes are the parasitic flatworms responsible for a highly significant group of infections in humans termed schistosomiasis which is considered by the world health organization as the second-most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease, with hundreds of millions infected worldwide. Schistosomes as a part of their life cycle use snails as their food consumption and as an intermediate for them to pass into the human body. At the next stage, the worm enters the human body in order to complete its life cycle and provide a way to lay eggs to repeat their self-reproduction again and again. As it enters our body it starts to show the effect on health. Cercariae which enters through the bathing water sticks on the skin of our body so the only survival for them is our human body and so they dissolve human skin with the caustic enzymes pierce it with a special spark on their tail bitte everything in the body, it does it so to get access over the food supply multiply and ensure the survival of their kind. Schistosomes are perfectly adapted to the movement through blood vessels and using the branched network of passages, penetrating the lungs, the heart. They conduct reconnaissance and seize the internal organs they pass through. Once it decides to form a nest and lay eggs it has enough space and unlimited food. The flow of blood will not stop until the human’s death, so there is a continuous flow of food for them.

For humans, the problems come right from the moment of infection, Though the size of the parasite is just under 0.4mm, he will feel itchy and constant rashes appear on the skin and his skin will turn red and he will feel constant discomfort and he won't understand what is the reason behind it and leave it .however the symptoms disappears after few days, he feels normal  and everything has gone by its own, its just a short term allergy so he doesn’t suspect the mortal danger  ahead of him. This time was just for the parasite to change the stages of development of larvae penetrate and spread through the body, the host thinks that all of his problems are solved but it's just the time for which the parasite took time to breathe its survival and then comes the real start of problems for the host.

The toxins released by the parasite slowly poison the human body in protection measure the human body tries to raise its temperature but this will no longer help. At first, he feels fever, chills, headache, and swelling of throat and airway develop, he would feel that all the curses on him are working right now . This is just a last warning for you to go near the doctor for urgent health care. If you don’t do Schistosomes will continue to do their work and after 2 months his blood composition will change. Sometimes the illness seems to recede which gives false hope for the host, this is just associated with the egg-laying of schistosomes and this is all a short-term regrouping of the enemy.

Soon a war of annihilation resumes with the renewed vigor, Damage to the nervous system, confused speech, difficulties with movement orientation in space and finally convulsions and you would know the last stage as it's mentioned in one of the reports. However, the good news is that the parasite and it's intermediate live only in the tropical areas generally need high humidity and hot places and in other conditions, these mollusks cannot survive and in their absence, the parasite does not get an intermediate to transfer into humans and so it cannot infect people who are not from tropical areas. Generally who prefer to be away from work and want to enjoy nature would get affected. Generally in poor countries like Nigeria and Zimbabwe, the water systems are not at all proper and people directly drink water from natural sources. Generally, most of the local people get affected and there were some reports telling that it has affected only the locals of that area 100 percent. So to better be on the Safer side  we should not drink water directly from the reservoir

CREDITS:

CONTENT WRITTEN BY:   VAAGESH

RESEARCH DONE BY:   Christy Samuel.

FINAL TOUCH BY :   UDHAY

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER:   WAR  MUDASIR.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER:   HIRDIYANSH  SHARMA.