Chapter 2: Terra Incognita Part 1

  

I am dedicating this post to the romantic "Schistosoma mansoni", otherwise known as the blood fluke. These little missile shaped parasites crawl out of the back of a snail living in a pond. They are in search of a human ankle to dive into, but when they feel the suns toxic Ultraviolet rays, they sink back into the shadows. As soon as the parasite senses human skin molecules in the water, they swim madly towards the source. Once they reach the ankle, they drop their tail and they release chemicals to soften the skin so they can cut through like butter. Hours later, the fluke reaches the capillaries, which are barely big enough to fit the fluke. The fluke rides through the blood, through wide vessels and small vessels, heavy currents and weak ones, and ends up in the lung capillaries, where it then goes to the arteries and veins and starts its journey all over again. The flukes do this 3 times before they finally settle down in the liver and begin feeding on the hosts blood. They start developing their respective reproductive systems for either a male or female. Their reproductive systems mature in 12 weeks and they start looking for mates. Males are shaped like canoes and females are slender, and the males let out chemicals to attract the females. The happy couple lock together, move toward the large intestine, and stay there for the rest of their lives. The male takes in blood to feed himself, but he ends up caring for his mate and ends up giving most of his food to them. This species of parasite is one of the most monogamous organisms out there. Males even stay attached to females after the female has died. Scientists have also found homosexual parasite couples locked together, although their fit isn't as tight. Even when scientists separate them, they end up joining back together again. The couple of flukes mate everyday until the female is ready to lay her eggs, which then the male takes he and his female to a suitable spot. Most of the laid eggs stay in the bowl and exit the host, wanting to get out and find a new snail to invade, but some eggs are carried away by the bloodstream to the liver and cause the painful inflammation linked with shistosomiasis. And they lived happily ever after...