There are 11 known parasites listed below from eMedicine. I’ll break it up into 3 parts because the reading is long.

One parasite that isn’t listed has been found in people with CFS, here’s an excerpt:

http://www.bioelectrification.info/index.php/solutions?skin=miami_blue

The following was presented by Dr. Hildegard

63 % of the patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) had a hidden lung worm, Cryptostronylus pulmoni cultured from their sputum. This species of worm is a nematode. Its male measures 250 nanometers, while the female measures between 750-100 namometers in length. (26) Currently, biological pesticide manufacturers are using nematode eggs as delivery systems of viral protein envelopes to corn, potatoes, and other agricultural feed materials that are used as feed for poultry, beef and domestic animals (cats and dogs).

Kalpow, Ph.D., Lawrence A. Suspected New Species of Nematode Parasite in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Cryptostrongylus pulmoni (provisional) " The Hidden Lung Worm."

This is an interesting article for those of you who suffer with CFIDS. If you go to this link there is a radio interview about the “Hidden Lung Worm”.

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/1215/

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CUTANEOUS LARVA MIGRANS - Excerpts from eMedicine

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2407.htm

ANCYLOSTOMA INFECTION (Hookworm)

Synonyms and related keywords: hookworm infection, hookworm, hookworm disease, Ancylostomatidae, Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus, Ancylostoma caninum, Ancylostoma ceylanicum, Ancylostoma braziliense, cutaneous larva migrans, eosinophilic enteritis, iron deficiency anemia, protein malnutrition.

Hookworm is the common name for blood-sucking nematodes of the Ancylostomatidae family; the 2 species that most commonly infect humans are Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus.

Humans acquire infection either by exposing skin to soil contaminated with A duodenale or N americanus larvae or by ingesting soil contaminated with A duodenale larvae. Larval skin penetration requires contact with contaminated soil for 5-10 minutes. The larvae elaborate a protease that helps the organisms bore through the skin. Larvae entering via the skin migrate through the venous and lymphatic circulation. After traversing pulmonary capillaries, larvae enter lung alveoli and ascend the airways, where they are coughed up and swallowed. Orally ingested larvae may undergo extraintestinal migration or remain in the GI tract.

Classic hookworm infection occurs most commonly in travelers, emigrants, and adoptees from developing countries. A low incidence of classic hookworm infection, mainly due to N americanus, exists in the Southeast. Cutaneous larva migrans is endemic in the southeastern states and Puerto Rico. The dog hookworm, A caninum, has reportedly caused eosinophilic enteritis in Australia and the United States; increased human infections are anticipated because of the global distribution of dogs. Hookworm infection with human-host species has an estimated global prevalence of 1 billion people. (These parasites drain the equivalent of all the blood from approximately 1.5 million people every day.) Infection is most prevalent in tropical and subtropical zones, roughly between the latitudes of 45°N and 30°S. Hookworm infection occurs only in isolated temperate areas.

The extent of infection may be categorized as light (ie, <100 worms), moderate (ie, 100-500 worms), and heavy (ie, 500-1000 worms). People who develop an initial heavy infection seem to reacquire heavy infection, and lightly infected individuals reacquire light infections, which suggests an underlying genetic susceptibility.

ASCARIASIS (Ascaris)

Synonyms and related keywords: Ascaris lumbricoides, Ascaris species, roundworm, parasite, helminthic infection, Ascaris larvae, Ascaris species infection, intestinal obstruction, IO, Loeffler pneumonitis

Ascaris species is transmitted by fecal-oral spread, primarily from ingestion of agricultural products or food contaminated with parasite eggs. Ascaris larvae, which hatch from swallowed eggs in the intestine, migrate through the blood to the pulmonary circulation. These larvae then penetrate the alveoli 1-2 weeks later as third-stage larvae and migrate up the tracheobronchial tree. At this point, the host swallows the larvae, which then develop into adult worms in the intestine. Worms can reach 10-30 cm in length. Clinical disease results from effects of pulmonary larval migration, intestinal obstruction (IO), or migration through the biliary tree.

In the United States, more than 4 million individuals are believed to be infected with Ascaris species. Most infected persons are immigrants from developing countries. Worldwide, more than 1.4 billion people are infected. Most Ascaris infections are in Latin America and Asia.

Most of the severe complications of Ascaris species infection are the result of complete IO, which may occur following the administration of certain anthelmintic agents to treat partial obstruction, resulting in formation of a worm bolus and leading to complete obstruction.

FILARIASIS (Microfilariae)

Synonyms and related keywords: Aedes, Anopheles, bancroftian filariasis, Culex, elephantiasis, filariasis, lymphatic filariasis, Mansonia, tropical pulmonary eosinophilia TPE, Wuchereria bancrofti, W bancrofti, filarial infection, filarial disease, human filariasis, microfilaremia, adenolymphangitis, ADL, occult bancroftian filariasis, filarial arthritis, filarial breast abscess, filarial-associated immune complex glomerulonephritis, elephantiasis

Bancroftian filariasis refers specifically to filarial infection with the nematode parasite Wuchereria bancrofti. Adult worms usually reside in the large lymphatics of the human host. Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE): TPE is a form of occult bancroftian filariasis. Presenting symptoms include a paroxysmal dry cough, wheezing, dyspnea, anorexia, malaise, and weight loss.

As with all nematodes, the filarial life cycle consists of 5 developmental or larval stages in a vertebral host and an arthropod intermediate host and vector. Adult female worms produce thousands of first-stage larvae, or microfilariae, that a feeding insect vector ingests. Some microfilariae have a unique circadian periodicity in the peripheral circulation over a 24-hour period. The arthropod vectors, mosquitoes and flies, also have a circadian rhythm in which they obtain blood meals. The highest concentration of microfilariae is usually observed when the local vector is feeding most actively. Microfilariae then undergo 2 developmental changes within the insect. Third-stage larvae are inoculated back into the vertebral host when the insect feeds, beginning the final 2 stages of development.

No form of bancroftian filariasis is currently endemic. W bancrofti was once prevalent in Charleston, SC, because of the presence of suitable mosquito vectors. Immigrant populations and long-term travelers to the tropics are more likely to be affected and are potential reservoirs of infection. Returning missionaries and Peace Corps volunteers are particularly at risk for lymphatic filariasis. Lymphatic filariasis is found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Worldwide prevalence is more than 90 million. The World Health Organization (WHO) initiated a program in 1997 to eliminate lymphatic filariasis globally as a public health priority.

Filarial diseases are rarely fatal, but the consequences of infection can cause significant personal and socioeconomic hardship for those who are infected. The WHO has identified lymphatic filariasis as the second leading cause (after leprosy) of permanent and long-term disability in the world. Morbidity of human filariasis is due mainly to the host reaction to microfilariae or to developing adult worms in different areas of the body.

CYSTICERCOSIS (Pork Tapeworm)

Synonyms and related keywords: cysticercosis, neurocysticercosis, giant cysticercosis, cysticercus cellulosae, cysticercus racemosus, Taenia solium, T solium adult-onset epilepsy, cysticerci, tapeworm infection, cysticercoids, neurocysticercosis, cysticerci

Cysticercosis, a tissue infection that involves larval cysts of the cestode Taenia solium (the human pork tapeworm), results from the ingestion of food (especially vegetables) and water contaminated with human feces that contain T solium eggs.

Cysticercosis, the intermediate form of T solium infection, is predominantly acquired by ingesting food or water contaminated with T solium eggs. Additionally, autoinfection may occur by means of fecal-oral contact and, theoretically, by reverse peristalsis in the small intestines of individuals infected with adult T solium worms.

In the stomach, oncospheres are liberated following digestion of the eggs' coats. Oncospheres invade and cross the intestinal wall, enter the bloodstream, and then migrate to and lodge in tissues throughout the body, where they produce small (0.2-0.5 cm) fluid-filled bladders containing a single juvenile-stage parasite (protoscolex). Although the cysticerci may infect any organ of the body (most often the eye, skeletal muscle, and CNS), serious disease almost exclusively involves the CNS and heart.

Since the 1970s, the number of cases of neurocysticercosis in the United States has increased, mainly because of the large number of immigrants from areas with endemic disease, such as Mexico, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Spain, and Portugal. Americans without a travel history to such areas have developed neurocysticercosis, mainly because of exposure to a cohabitant with a T solium infection. An accurate estimation of the prevalence of cysticercosis is difficult because of the high prevalence of asymptomatic individuals. Overall, more than 2 million people are estimated to have adult tapeworm infection, and many more are infected with cysticercoids. Disease is prevalent in areas with poor hygiene and sanitation.

Cysticercosis is endemic throughout Latin American, although it is rare in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. Cysticercosis is absent in Arabic regions of Asia and Africa but is found in areas where pigs live in close proximity to humans. In Europe, cysticercosis is still endemic in Spain, Portugal, and some Eastern European countries but is rare in most other countries. Worldwide, an estimated 50,000 people die from cysticercosis each year because of CNS or cardiac complications.