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Worms That Eat the Insides of Animals

Parasitic worms are organisms that feed off the insides of their living host. These parasites can do significant harm to their host by interfering with the nutritional and digestive processes, causing weakness and disease. The eggs of these worms contaminate food, water, air, pets, wild animals and humans. Once inside its host, the egg will attach to the intestine, hatch, feed, grow and multiply. Some worms can also infect other parts of the host's body.

Flukes
- Flukes are flatworms with both external and internal species. Some flukes live on the host's skin, mouth or gills. Most flukes, however, are internal parasites which enter the host through the skin. The flukes enters and moves up the bloodstream, through organs, such as the heart and lungs, until it reaches the liver. Although flukes eventually pass out of the host's body, reinfection can occur again and again, causing damage to the host's organs over time.
Tapeworms
- Tapeworms are passed from animal to animal via the food chain. Water or food contaminated with tapeworm eggs can be consumed by fish, cows, pigs or other animals. The animal is then host to the tapeworm, which multiplies in population and burrows into the host's muscles, where it goes into a dormant state. The host animal is then consumed by another animal, and the tapeworm cycle continues. The tapeworm will then latch onto the new host's intestine where it grows into a feeding adult worm, leaving its host weak with weight loss.
Ascaris
- Ascaris can infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, cattle, pigs and many other animals. The worm lives in the host's intestine, where it lays eggs. The eggs leave the host through feces. The feces can contaminate food or water, which is then ingested by another animal. The eggs hatch in the new host's intestine and then travel around the bloodstream. The worms then end up in the lungs, break out into the host's air passages, where they are swallowed down the throat and end up back in the intestine. The cycle then repeats itself.
Hookworm
- Hookworm eggs hatch outside and develop in soil. The larvae penetrate the host through unprotected skin. Hookworms then follow the same path as the ascaris worms, by traveling through the host's bloodstream to the lungs, throat and then the intestines. The adult hookworm burrows into the intestine and eats the blood of its host.
Trichinella
- Trichinella worms live in the intestines of their hosts, causing the sometimes fatal disease of Trichinosis. The worm enters the body through infected muscle tissue that is eaten. Two of the most common animals infected with trichinella worms are rats and pigs. The adult worms live and mate in the intestine of the infected animal. The females lay the eggs in the intestinal wall. When the eggs hatch, the larvae travel through the host's bloodstream and burrow into muscles, tissues and even organs. This causes excruciating pain for the host. If left untreated, the animal will eventually die. Even with treatment, recovery may take several months.

Animals & Science