Question: Where would you get a flesh eating parasite?

Tim Downing answered on 12 Nov 2012:

Hi Missc

The flesh-eating parasite I study are found mainly in tropical regions: parts of Asia like India, Africa like Ethiopia, and South America in Brazil. It’s called Leishmania (“leash-mane-ee-aa”). It also occurs in sub-tropical regions – so it’s found in the Mediterranean too, like in France and Spain. It’s spread to humans by a particular type of fly called the sandfly, which is only found in these various parts of the world. This limits its spread.

Interestingly, there was a study of over 1,000 Austrian people for immune system molecules that are present after infection by parasite like Leishmania. They found 40-70 of these people may have been exposed to the parasite (or something similar) sometime in the past, and that 5-10 of them may be actually be infected but at a very low level. So it’s possible there could be people with it in Ireland. The reason why that might feel ok with it is that most of the time it only hits you when you are already unwell. So people may get it and not get sick, but others are less lucky. So our immune systems define how our body reacts to it – by ignoring it or by over-reacting to it.

Tim