Ways to Acquire Intestinal Parasites

From Food:

• Consuming raw or undercooked meat, such as beef, pork, or lamb.
  
• Consuming raw or undercooked fish (e.g., sushi, sashimi, ceviche, smoked fish).
  
• Consuming raw or undercooked shellfish (e.g., crabs, crayfish, raw oysters).
  
• From fresh fruits and vegetables that are not properly washed. 
  

From Water:

• Drinking (or swimming in) contaminated water.
• From plants that grow in water that is contaminated (e.g., watercress).

From Soil:

• Coming into contact with contaminated soil (e.g., while gardening, doing yardwork or fieldwork, children playing outside, walking barefoot, etc.).

From Animals:

• From pets through contact with their feces or by swallowing an infected flea.
• From farm animals via contact with their feces.

From Humans:
Self-(re)infecting:

• When you are infected, you pass eggs in your stool.  Please practice proper hygiene, as you can re-infect yourself (orally) and also risk infecting others. 

Person-to-person contact with someone infected:

• Touching contaminated surfaces, then eating with our hands, biting our nails, etc.
• Putting objects in our mouths, as is common for children.
• Shaking hands, then eating with our hands, biting our nails, etc.
• Certain intimate encounters.

 
NOTE: There are quite a few species of parasites that can be acquired from human-to-human contact, but not all parasites can be transmitted that way.  Unfortunately, the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) is a very common and dangerous parasite that is endemic in the majority of the world including parts of North America and South America.  It is very easily transmitted between humans, as well as through food (undercooked pork or contaminated produce). 

Future posts:
- Ways to acquire blood-borne parasites. 
- Ways to minimize risks of acquiring parasites. 

Thanks for reading!  Much love to all! 

References:
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Parasites - Food
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/food.html

World Health Organization (WHO) - Major foodborne illnesses and causes
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs399/en/

University of Maryland Medical Center - Intestinal parasites
http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/intestinal-parasites