• Question: @Franco have you ever had a parasite live of you and if you did what did it do to you

    Asked by Ned & M to Franco on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      @Ned & M

      Oh dear, at the risk of being really boring, no, I don’t think that I ever had a parasite myself, not that I know of. I may have had pinworms in my early childhood but my parents never told me about this.

      I may have a parasite that is called Toxoplasma gondii, transmitted by cats, because I grew up with lots of cats (and dogs). I may also have a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori in my stomach, as every second person has them but these are not normally considered parasites.

      So my boring answer is no, probably not, but if I did, I would probably put them in a jar or something like that and keep them on my desk all day long, with a sense of pride and ownership – these were MY parasites!

Comments

  • Photo: Claire

    Claire commented on :

    Phew, glad to hear it Franco! Me neither!

    Some friends of mine have been infected with parasitic worms called schistosomes, which they caught from kayaking in the River Nile and they kindly offered to give me blood samples to have a look at their immune responses as part of my experiments, but I am very glad that they quickly took medicines to get rid of their infections. I try my level best to avoid getting infected as part of my work through careful health and safety measures. No matter how fascinating I find parasites, I’d rather not have one myself.