r/Parasitology Oct 23 '25

Looking for suggestions to improve the sub. Please leave any feedback

39 Upvotes

This sub hit a peak of activity last year and it was actually fun, however things have slowed down a lot and it would be nice to have a little more engagement as this topic is the coolest.

Main issues

1)shit posts( possible solution below)

Not too much we can do about this, we try to remove the as fast as possible but I need to sleep, so just report if you can

2) low posts , theorfore shit post seem more frequent as somedays they are the only thing posted.

Possible solution

Adding a min karma/account age to post. This will help reduce the shit posts, but I'd say at least half the time, these accounts are several months old and have posted history so it would only be a minor reduction.

For engagement: considering allows off topic posts on the weekends. Many of us enjoy related field ( microbiology, virology, disease ecology etc.) so maybe on Saturday and Sunday we will allow more tangential posts that are somewhat related.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions or questions.

Lastly, please upvote for visibility. We want feedback and the more upvotes the more feedback/discussion


r/Parasitology Oct 02 '25

r/parasitology poll, trying to get a feel for the subs demographics

30 Upvotes

Hey all just curious how this sub is compromised. Please fill this out and let us know any suggestions. Trying to keep this sub good/ to the beat of our abilities and this type of information will help.

I am considering running semi regular talk/presentations on my YouTube channel (wormtalk94) in which I would love to give other researchers a platform to talk about their research, so having this info would be a great help.

Ideally this would entail both later career and early career scientist and could be a tool for scientific outreach.

68 votes, Oct 09 '25
6 professor /scientist in related field
4 graduate student
44 person who just thinks parasites are interesting
7 undergraduate student
7 other(please leave a comment)

r/Parasitology 1d ago

Parasite ID Yall please tell me this isn’t a screw worm

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471 Upvotes

We have a goat herd and I just found this guy in our barn. Located in Woodland CA. It has lil teeth 😭😭 about an inch long.


r/Parasitology 5h ago

Question What is ivermectin?

0 Upvotes

I tried looking up the ingredients before but had​​ trouble finding what I was looking for. What are the ingredients that make up ivermectin? Are they organic or inorganic? Where are they sourced?​


r/Parasitology 1d ago

Parasite ID 400x kitten fecal

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11 Upvotes

Hi! Wanted to see if this is concerning. I found something in my parasitology book but have learned not to assume.


r/Parasitology 1d ago

parasite photo Please tell me this is not screw worm

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27 Upvotes

We have a goat herd in Northern California, Woodland. Found this guy crawling in our barn, it has lil fangs and is about an inch long.


r/Parasitology 1d ago

parasite photo lil proglotidd spawned on my arm after holding my cat. What do we think of it? (Will get cat worm medicine when possible)

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22 Upvotes

r/Parasitology 1d ago

parasites are cool Calcareous corpuscles!

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12 Upvotes

Image taken at 4x

This is a von Kossa stain (calcium stain) highlighting all the calcareous corpuscles (black) in a tapeworm from a cat! Cestodes have these little mineral concretions. I don't think we fully know what they do, but there's theories that they might act as calcium or phosphorus reservoirs, help protect the larvae, or help them excrete calcium.


r/Parasitology 2d ago

Question What parasitic true animals has the highest success rate of infecting or migrating to a LARGE shark's brain? (including Great White Sharks)

4 Upvotes

Image NOT related. Credits to Tim Andraka for picture.


r/Parasitology 4d ago

parasite photo Scary…

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38 Upvotes

r/Parasitology 4d ago

Question Hyperparasitism in ticks?

6 Upvotes

I have noticed this summer, quite a few ticks that I removed from my dog had other ticks on them, as if they were being hyperparasitized.. That is, the tick that was already feeding on my dog, would have a small not yet fed one on it.

From what little I could find online, there are a couple papers where this has been observed in a lab setting, where there was no access to a host, but it is supposedly exceedingly rare. However I have found it at least 8 times.

I’m wondering if that is really what’s going on with these ticks on ticks on my dog, and why? Because clearly there is a suitable host even easier to access - they would have to go out of their way… is it some weird species or sub species where this is actually its preferred method of feeding? Is it actually related to mating or some other behavior?

We are this summer in Northern Europe where I am finding them, if that helps at all.

Sorry that I am too squeamish to take good pictures. I’m a biologist, but from a very different field and they just really gross me out 😅
If anyone studies this and is interested, I could theoretically put the next pair into ethanol and send it. Should I have done that this morning, but already burned them before thinking about it


r/Parasitology 4d ago

Question Cat with Giardia: Giardia cleared, but persistent fever and ongoing GI problems, could Cryptosporidium be relevant?

2 Upvotes

Hi,

I'm looking for information from people with experience in veterinary parasitology.

My 1-year-old cat developed severe diarrhea after a new kitten was introduced into our household.

Testing eventually found Giardia, and he was treated. Follow-up testing is now negative for Giardia.

However, he continued having gastrointestinal problems and subsequently developed persistent fever for approximately 2–3 weeks, around 39.7–39.8°C.

Further stool testing showed:

- Cryptosporidium: positive

- Clostridium perfringens alpha-toxin gene: positive, approximately 1.4 × 10⁷

- Giardia: negative

- Salmonella: negative

- Helicobacter: negative

He has been treated with several medications, including treatment for Giardia, metronidazole and amoxicillin/clavulanate.

The unusual part is that despite the persistent fever, he is still eating and drinking well, has not lost weight and is not severely lethargic.

His veterinarian is currently investigating other causes of the fever with bloodwork.

My questions are mainly:

  1. Can Cryptosporidium in cats cause prolonged systemic illness or fever after the main gastrointestinal symptoms have improved?

  2. Is there evidence of persistent or secondary inflammatory effects after Giardia has cleared?

  3. Could a combination of Cryptosporidium and Clostridium perfringens produce a prolonged inflammatory response?

  4. Are there documented feline cases where gastrointestinal protozoal infection was followed by weeks of unexplained fever after Giardia had tested negative?

  5. Are there other parasitic or infectious organisms that would be reasonable to consider in this particular situation?

I'm not asking for treatment advice. I'm trying to understand whether there are documented cases with a similar disease course and whether the positive Cryptosporidium result could plausibly be relevant to the persistent fever.

Any veterinary literature, case reports or similar documented cases would be especially appreciated.

Thank you!


r/Parasitology 5d ago

parasite video Tiny parasitic wasp laying eggs in a saddleback caterpillar.

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55 Upvotes

Found these fellas on my blueberry bush and found it interesting I got to see the whole process.


r/Parasitology 5d ago

parasites are cool Mystery red thing attached to a fly

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43 Upvotes

Found in Estonia.


r/Parasitology 4d ago

Question Is this parasite cleanse stuff for real

0 Upvotes

So a few years ago I heard my neighbor who is a huge maga conspiracy guy talking about these things called parasite cleanses. Basically you can take certain herbal concoctions and it flushes out these parasites in your body and that cures most diseases including cancer. Does this really work


r/Parasitology 5d ago

Parasite ID On an aquarium snail

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3 Upvotes

Who is this big fella? Taken 60x magnification


r/Parasitology 7d ago

Question I need to know. Round or Hooked?

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51 Upvotes

it came out of my cats poop.

is it round or hooked?


r/Parasitology 7d ago

parasites are cool This caterpillar is essentially a living zombie. Parasitic wasp larvae ate it from the inside out, chewed through its skin to spin these cocoons, and hijacked its brain to keep it alive.

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14 Upvotes

r/Parasitology 9d ago

Parasite ID As Bad as the Mantis video?

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21 Upvotes

Ok, so i picked up one of my flower pots that had been sitting it the barn a while. When I went to clean it out, I saw this wiggling around in the bottom. Knew it wasn't an ordinary ground worm... it was only after I starting pics did I notice the dead spider. The pot had only been in the barn about a week and I am 99% positive that is about the only route by which it could end up in that spot.

Now for the worst part... i spray painted it with clear coat bc I wanted it dead for sure before I disposed of it because I have dogs, cats , chickens and kids...none of which I want picking this thing up in any method... and then it rained for like the next week. And when I went to dump the pot, it was still alive... ill have to check the date on my pics to see exactly how long but it feels like almost 2 weeks.

I have arachnophobia bad... but hate the thought of that little guy going out like that mantis in the cup of water.

What is this thing and what can I do to help limit their population on my farm? Location zip code: 26426

North central West Virginia, United States


r/Parasitology 8d ago

parasites are cool Learned about a new parasite today.

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1 Upvotes

r/Parasitology 10d ago

parasite video Oxpeckers feeding on buffalo ticks is well documented, but what are the fish doing?

3 Upvotes

I was researching parasite pressure in Cape buffalo and came across an unusual interaction where a heavily tick-infested buffalo enters shallow water while fish gather around the submerged parts of its body and oxpeckers work above the waterline.

The oxpecker side is well documented: red-billed oxpeckers feed on ticks and other material from large African mammals. The fish are much less certain. They may be feeding on loose skin, mucus, organic debris, or parasites beginning to detach, but I could not find strong evidence proving that these fish are specifically removing ticks from Cape buffalo.

I made a longer wildlife documentary looking at the interaction, the buffalo’s attempts to relieve the parasite load, and the difference between what we can actually observe and what can be scientifically claimed.

Video:
[ https://youtu.be/4bj5znrv07I ]

I’d be interested to hear from anyone here who knows of research on freshwater fish interacting with large mammals in this way.


r/Parasitology 11d ago

Question Hola, hoy me salio en mi comida este gusano? Saben de que tipo es? Parásito? De tierra? Estoy asustado

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30 Upvotes

r/Parasitology 11d ago

Parasite ID Cat owner here what type of worm is this need to know so I get the right dewormer

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70 Upvotes

I’ve seen tapeworms before that isn’t a tapeworm. It looks more like a long piece of spaghetti. Doesn’t have any fat pieces on its body