Suspected invasive alien species?

An invasive nematode?

How scary are invasive alien species?

Threats to the environment, risk of parasitic infections, damage to native communities, these are all things that invasive alien species can do.

Don't think that concern about invasive species is just the job of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a general citizen, it's best to report any possible unknown species to the authorities as soon as possible.

Because there's a good chance that what the average person finds, is an invasive species, is more likely to find and therefore help more people avoid the potential impacts.

In the summer of 2022, netizens in Chengdu posted a video about suspected invasive alien species.

In the video, the slender, noodle-like nematodes can be seen swimming in a clear stream.

When the news came to light, it quickly caused a heated discussion online.

Some say it could be Dracunculitis, but if it is, it could be a foreign invasion.

Because the first report of dracunculiasis in Guinea, almost no domestic, mainly distributed in Africa and other places.

However, experts said that in summer, the activity of various kinds of insects gradually increased, the stream nematodes are likely to be the mantis parasitic iron nematodes.

Nematodes are one of the largest phyla in the animal kingdom, and there are nearly 30,000 species of nematodes. The specific type of nematode and whether it is Dracunculiasis need to be analyzed by solid sampling.

In the case of nematodes, it is a phylum of worms, mainly parasitic life.

Most species range in size from 50 to 100 mm. In extreme cases, it can reach 2 meters. In addition to iron nematodes, horse caterpillars are common.

Horse caterpillars can be found in humid environments such as sinks, swimming pools, streams and puddles.

As a parasitic species, nematodes most like to parasize beetles, cockroaches, mantises, including Orthoptera and crustaceans.

The morphological and biological manifestations of nematodes are very primitive, with no cilia in the outer cuticle and only longitudinal muscles and a nonfunctional gut in the interior.

They also have no excretory, respiratory, or circulatory systems. The nervous system, which runs along the body from a ring of nerves near the anterior end of the animal's ventral nerve cord, is rudimentary.

Adults and larvae live in different states, and the physiological structure of larvae is more obvious than that of adults.

The cuticular carabinus and the terminal needle facilitate entry into the host, and once inside the body, nutrients are absorbed directly through the skin in the host's blood chamber.

As for the nematode found in the wild in Chengdu, Zhao Li, curator of the Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum, said it is likely to be a parasite in the body of a praying mantis or Orthoptera.

When the nematode matures inside the insect, it forces the host species to travel to water sources to reproduce and prepare for the next cycle.

Parasitism of nematodes

It's hard to spot nematodes with the naked eye because they're so primitive.

In addition, it cannot be ruled out that this nematode may be an albino iron nematode.

The iron worm is better known than dracunculitis, perhaps because it has been featured in numerous parasite reports and in some films.

Iron nematode is also a type of nematode. After the larval eggs develop in the host, they affect the normal behavior of insects.

In the case of the praying mantis, the internal organs of the praying mantis parasitized by the iron nematode will be eaten. When the iron nematode reaches the reproductive stage, it will release chemicals in the praying mantis to stimulate the praying mantis to seek water.

However, it is very rare for iron nematodes to infect humans. Only 18 cases of iron nematodes have been reported in the country from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

Patients are infected by drinking water that contains the eggs or larvae of the worm.

If an iron worm infection occurs, the disease will vary depending on where the infection is located.

Simply put, redness, swelling, and tingling can occur at different sites of infection. If in the digestive tract, the secretions of iron nematodes can affect the normal digestive function of intestinal fluid, and the symptoms are mild, usually manifested as abdominal pain and dyspepsia.

But if the nematode in the video is not an iron worm, but a dracunculitis, the problem would be much worse.

Although related cases have been well resolved and controlled in the past, Dracunculiasis is still a parasitic disease that cannot be ignored.

Its full name is Guinea worm, also known as Guinea worm.

It is a parasite that can live inside the human body and belongs to the genus Dracunculides, which causes Dracunculiasis.

Those infected with the condition often experience pain, swelling and even loss of labor.

The infection is caused by female dracunculides, a member of the same species. In order to reproduce, female Dracunculides need to absorb nutrients in the human body, which causes various kinds of inflammation.

Back to the beginning of the article, the nematodes in the stream were more likely to be iron nematodes

But it's still a reminder that there are so many risks in the wild that, for whatever reason, it's best not to drink raw or untreated water, no matter how clean it looks.

The key to parasite control is prevention, as is the case with most diseases.

Because in the human eye, there are many hidden secrets.