No just regular water. The parasite leaves voluntarily when it senses all the water because it needs a body of water to complete its breeding cycle. Unfortunately for the parasite, it got scammed by a cup of water.
They are called horsehair worms. The removal of them will probably save the life of the mantis for a while till it gets reinfected.
Typically a host drinks from an infected watersource grows into worm form then waits till the host gets close to water and they cause the host to fall in where it leaves the host then lives the rest of its life in water making eggs infecting the water source.
Humans cant serve as hosts so they dont really pose any health issues.
Not so much immune system. But our body are not vulnerable to allowing them to remain in our bodies they would be expelled within a day or 2 even if they lived.
There’s a bunch of different reasons. We have radically different anatomy, different digestive system, different immune system, and different behavior. These worms have a very specific life cycle they follow that is perfectly adapted to their specific host, and if it fails they die. Probably the biggest thing is our digestive system - invertebrates like insects typically have a thin-walled digestive system with specific enzymes the parasites protect themselves against. Humans have a comparably thick-walled digestive system with different enzymes (and stomach acid) that the parasite has no defense against. Any non-human parasite that ends up inside us gets trapped in the digestive tract and killed.
Thick Stomach Walls: Human stomach and intestinal walls are thick, muscular, and lined with protective mucus. The tiny worm larva cannot bore through them.
Digestive Acids: Humans have highly acidic stomachs and powerful digestive enzymes. The larvae are usually digested and killed before they can do anything.
No Escape Route: Even if a resilient, fully grown worm is swallowed, it cannot pierce human skin or muscle. It has no choice but to travel the length of the digestive tract and exit with bodily waste.
I live in Minnesota and in particular the Twin Cities. Over the years many a college kids have wandered off at night near the Mississippi river and turned up dead. People would say it was the smiley face killer. Now that I see this video, it makes me wonder... what if, what if... naw nvm
As the parasite guy above said, no. The parasite is not inherently lethal to its host, although for many insects jumping bodily into a pool of water is likely to result in their death. The mantis in this video is just fine
I am not an expert, but insects get infected by this particular parasite, like most, by ingestion. It therefore stands to reason that the parasite is, at least in part, in the digestive tract of the mantis. I can't tell if the worm is ripping it's way out xenomorph style, or exiting like a very, very, very long tapeworm
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u/HeartOn_SoulAceUp Aug 04 '26
Chlorinated water necessary I wonder?