Is it a worm what I see through my eyes?

Caution: The pictures and video of this article can be particularly unpleasant in susceptible individuals. Rate your level of insensibilización to decide these things and if you read it or not.The Loa loa or "African eye worm" is a worm that parasitizes humans in a quite peculiar way. It is a type of nematode, and is shaped like a thread. Located in the warm and humid regions of West Africa where it is so endemic.Perhaps it may seem unusual, but millions of people are infected with this parasite. Even if we consider that the figures are much lower than the actual figure because the infection can go completely unnoticed.Their life cycle begins in two different species of flies that feed on human blood (known as horseflies). There, in the tube of flies, is the loa loa. When one of these fly bites a human being, not only brings a little blood, but in return it leaves a small little thing in the skin: loa loa larvae. These larvae are introduced under the skin through the wound that caused the flies to feed and remain in the subcutaneous tissue. That will begin to grow into an adult individual without any clinical manifestation.The dimensions that can reach the adults are 7 cm. long and 0.5 mm. in diameter and up to 17 years can stay in a person. Females tend to be significantly larger than males. It may take months or even several years after infection until the individual becomes an adult and begins to show some kind of signal. Moving through the tissue at a speed of 60 cm. per hour, which is necessary for females and males can be found anywhere in person and produce offspring, the microfilariae. They pass into the bloodstream through the capillaries, following a daily routine that is exactly the same in that people horseflies bite to eat. With a rigorous routine, the microfilariae migrate to the blood of 10 am to 4 pm. If it happens that a horsefly takes to feed and makes contact with one of the microfilariae, passed to his digestive tract and then spread to more people with the next bite, thus closing the life cycle of Loa loa. Other microfilariae, which have not come into contact with any horsefly, will return to the lungs where they wait for the next day to return to the blood with the same schedule as always.The main feature of the Loa loa, also has earned him the nickname Worm Eye is its ride through the eyes as they move continuously through the body of the person. And unlike other worms can also reach the eyes, does not cause blindness or even have to show other symptoms. Many people discover they are infected to discover something that moves across the eye or even see a kind of shadow. That was the case of a Nigerian presented as a case in New England Journal of Medicine. As she was driving, she realized that something was moving in her right eye. Then went to an optician who found a worm that was fine and wavy but under was the conjunctiva and was not able to extract. Irritation in the eye by the worm ceased the next day and did not return the eye to appear until a week later and then went to an ophthalmologist, but the worm was back into hiding. It was not until four days later when the worm finally showed the "face" and could be extracted.Besides his tour from time to time by the eye,it can cause itching in areas of the skin where it goes or if it migrated to a very sensitive point cause pain. Also inflammation and swelling may occur under the skin and muscle pain. There is no area of the human body that is free from the route of passage of the loa loa, can reach the testicles, vagina, and even the heart to the brain. In those individuals with thin skin, you can even see the worm and how it moves under it.