A woman sits over a sink that is filled with water. Your feet are under immersed. Excitedly, she brings the telephone camera to concentrate on the water and zooms in. There are squirrels and winding, dark strands. They are worms, she says, the evidence of successful parasite cleaning.
Videos like this on Tikkok are abandoned and South African Tok is no exception. A “parasite remedy” drink is taken like a shot – Grimace and everything – from Women en mass. In other clips, women scratch the seeds of a paw paw and eat them. Another woman mixes bitter salt with fruit juice. They all deal with a parasite cleaning in which parasites that look like worms have to be removed from the body. According to the clips of Tikkkers, to which holistic doctors, pharmacists and content creators belong, you need a parasite cleaning if you clenched your teeth, have the bell in your ears or have ringing or eczema. Are parasites as widespread as Tiktok says? And do you kill Pawpaw seeds? We asked the experts.
What (exactly) is a parasite?
Like your Freeloader pet, a parasite is every “organism that lives in or in a person (or any animal) and derive the nutrients from this so-called“ host ”, explains Prof. Miles Markus, parasitologist and honorary member of the parasitological society of southern Africa. Examples of parasites are lice, fleas, malaria and ticks. In humans, we relate to intestinal worms, also known as helminths.
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How often are parasites in the body?
A literature overview of 2023 in progress in parasitology notes that data on gastrointestinal parasites like many health states in Africa are missing south of the Sahara. According to statistics in 2020, two billion people are infected with gastrointestinal parasites. It is widespread in children and is associated with poverty, a lack of access to safe drinking water, poor hygiene and education. You can pick up a parasite if you eat contaminated food, infected meat, raw meat or untreated water. But you can also get it from another person or another animal.
What are the symptoms of parasites or worms?
“Symptoms of parasitic infections are mostly unspecific. In other words, they could also be symptoms of a different state,” says Prof. Markus. “Abdominal complaints and/or the obvious symptom of the Gastroenteritis Diarrhea can be associated with parasites.”
“Parasites can influence different body systems,” explains Dr. Bonolo Mashishi, a virologist and pathologist. “Worms can infect our blood, blisters, liver and other organs.” And because you get your food at the expense of the host (you), avoid the host food. You may see intestinal worms in your stool or blood in your urine, and among children it can reflect a worm infection if you are itchy around the anus, says Prof. Markus. “However, pine nerves are not pointed to a parasitic infection,” he says.
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So … do you need a parasite cleaning?
The short answer: no. The longer answer? There is no such thing. “” Parasit Cleanse “is not a medical term,” says Prof. John Frean, Associate Professor at the Center for Aufwünging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Crankores. “If they are exposed, people in all income clips could be infected with intestinal worms, but should be diagnosed and managed on individual (or sometimes family).” Dr. Mashishi agrees. “Anti -parasitic drugs are often needed for treatment. These drugs should eliminate parasites,” she says.
It is important that the medication for removing parasites does not contain a rail salt, Pawpaw seeds or charcoal tablets, all experts found. “Some of the substances recorded are possibly harmful. Before you take something like this for some reason, always inquire with your local pharmacist and ask how much of this you can use safely,” warns Prof. Markus. Conclusion: No oil, seeds, salt, tea or bitter preparation kill every parasite. And all experts we talked to do not work.
For people who have to be defused-for children and some endangered adults, where there is a burden of worm-associated infections, says Dr. Mashishi-is the pharmacy of the place. “Talk to your local pharmacy about the deworming for intestinal helmet thriasis if you want to know about it,” says Prof. Markus.
