• Question: What is the most dangerous parasite you have handled?

    Asked by Slenneri to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 20 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by ALICE.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      @Sienneri I worked with snails infected with Schistosomes so there was a residual risk of infection, but took appropriate precautions. I am much more likely to get killed while cycling to and back from work than get infected with parasites I work with, the labs are quite safe and we have Safety Officers making sure they remain safe!

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      I used to work in a laboratory where we kept live parasites called schistosomes that can actively burrow through the skin from infested water and looked after lots of snails, which they live inside (the ones that Franco also mentioned). To do my work I had to collect thousands of schistosome larvae,called cercariae, which swim freely in water, and so the liquids I worked with posed a very high risk of infection. There were lots of precautions that we took to reduce the risk of infection: I worked in a separate room to other scientists, always wore a lab coat and gloves, transported the parasites in a special sealed box, and always kept strong disinfectants to hand to kill them and decontaminate any spillages once I had finished working with them. I also had to go for a special health check every 6 months to make sure I had not infected myself by mistake. One of my jobs was to fill out health and safety forms to educate other scientists in our laboratory on how to handle the parasites safely, inform the local health and safety officer of what methods we were using to reduce the risk. Without these safety measures in place, we would not be allowed to work with parasites that could infect humans. Despite working with schistosomes for many years, I have never been infected and hope I never will!

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hi

      I have also worked with snails infected with schistosomes. Mostly as an epidemiologist I am working with survey data so I am relatively safe

    • Photo: Arporn Wangwiwatsin

      Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hi Slenneri,

      I have worked with a few different parasites (some of them I worked with for over a year, some of them only a couple of weeks…some names if of interest are: Schistosome, Trypanosome, Toxoplasma, Plasmodium)… All of these parasites can be dangerous or even deadly to people in the endemic region who are at risk of infection and have limited access to treatment. But when I work with them, a lot of safety rules are put in place, that if I follow the rules, the chance of me getting infected, is very very low. … So I can follow the rules and enjoy studying their fascinating biology.

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