“Can you identify this as a worm and if so, what species?” asks Kim about the gooey, strand of matter pictured below. “I picked it up, put it in a container and soaked it in tea tree oil to hopefully kill it if it was a living thing. Have found these on the floor in my Central Florida mobile home that has a well and that has had some stopped-up septic problems and overflows. Could either be the cause? I will also add that we are in a rural area and we have, or have had in the past, cats, dogs, donkeys, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits; we fed out a wild boar twice. I would like to know your opinion on the type of whatever this may be, and maybe even the potential host if it is a parasite so I can pinpoint the area and treat it and the tenant on its rented acre of land. We are in a wooded area of twelve acres. Don’t know if it was carried in the home or, like I mentioned, a result of the septic issue. The other “samples” looked like they could have been stepped on. Oh, and I should mention that my cat stares at the floor because she can see something we cannot. She refuses to walk in certain areas and bolts through, jumping as fast and far as her pudgy little self can go, to avoid these spaces. I have sent as many photos as I have and tried to take different vantage points for you. Thanks again for your considerable help.”

“I have black, thin worms and clear ones all over and in my body”, writes this reader in their submission regarding the white organism pictured below. “Can you help me identify these? The doctors say they are not there. There are also long thin clear white ones. Thank you so much.” Right off the bat, we will need to inform our reader that we will unfortunately not be able to identify these worms. The reason for this is because they have explicitly stated that they have been found inside her body and that they have consulted a doctor about them. As such, we have to assume that this situation is potentially medical in nature, and because we are not medical professionals, we are thus neither qualified nor legally able to identify such worms.

“Identity please?” is all this reader writes in her submission regarding the long, off-white worm-like creature pictured below. In any case where the worm photographed is not unique in its appearance and thus instantly recognizable, identifying a worm based only on a photo is nearly impossible without context. For that reason, we will not be able to provide our reader with a concrete identity of this organism: its white color and nondescript body renders this worm generic in appearance, which is makes it all that much harder to pinpoint its exact identity. With that said, what we will do is provide an educated guess and give our reader some pointers as to what she might want to do, depending on what her concerns are.

“Does anyone know what this is?” is all this reader asks about the strange, lobster-shaped organism pictured below. We have never seen anything like it, and it is not particularly worm-like in appearance: this, in conjunction with the lack of context, makes it impossible for us to identify this creature. We also do not know what concerns we could address, since our reader did not make any known to us. For that reason, we will simply do a quick overview of some information that may prove helpful.

“I had a horrific feeling of something crawling up my nose”, begins this reader in her submission about the worm-like creature pictured below. “I blew my nose continuously and it still hurt. When I breathed in, it hurt. I sneezed and sneezed. Finally, I blew out this tiny worm, white/beige: it had a sharp point at the end. I felt intense relief. I had no other symptoms. It is about 1 cm (0.4-inches). It was very much alive! Now, I am paranoid that I am infested with pupae. Do you think this could be a one time event? We live in the country, deep in the woods, in the South. We do have all sorts of insects around. I do my best to keep them out of the house. I will enclose a picture. Thank you so much!”

“I found these silvery things moving at the bottom of my toilet bowl when I urinate,” states this reader in his submission regarding the translucent shape pictured below. “I thought it might just be the warmer liquid mixing with the cooler liquid – it kind of swirls. I’m gonna attach a video. Oh, by the way, I’m in Dallas Texas but was in the Navy and have traveled to many countries. I apologize for the language.” Firstly, we want to thank our reader for his service and let him know that the language is absolutely fine: we want our readers to be as direct as possible when they give us the context of their situation, as it helps us get the clearest grasp on the situation we can get. Secondly, we must say that this does not resemble any organism that we know of. It really does just look like swirls of liquid.

“I live in Toronto, Ontario, and was wondering if you could identify this worm/larvae”, states this reader about the white worm-like creature pictured below. “This small larva, which is approximately half an inch in length, was found in the bathroom and may have been an intestinal parasite (due to how it was discovered). It moves quickly and seems to have six small appendages and a segmented upper body. It has a small reddish brown “head.” It looks closest to a clothing moth larva, but the body shape is not the same and it is physically flatter. Any help would be greatly appreciated.” Now, since our reader states that he thinks it may be an intestinal parasite, we cannot identify this organism for him. This is because we are not medical professionals, and are thus not qualified or legally able to identify any organisms that affect the health of humans or animals.

“Can you identify this please?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the minuscule, black, twisted-looking organism pictured below. “This was coughed up”, she explains, though she does not add anything else in her submission. Regardless, we will not be able to identify this organism, and the reason for this is because it came from her body. Any situation in which an organism comes from a person or animal’s body must be presumed to be medical in nature, as we cannot risk making an identification that will be misconstrued as a diagnosis. Since we are not medical professionals, we are neither qualified nor legally able to make these kinds of identifications in the first place. What we can do is point our reader in the direction of some resources she can use to find someone that is qualified to answer her questions and identify what came out of her nose.

“I have been trying to find someone to identify what type of worm this is”, states this reader in her submission regarding the segmented, brown creature pictured below. “It is possible that it was stuck to my clothes or even the toilet paper, but I found it when wiping. I went to the doctor and the ER and they couldn’t figure out what it was either. I searched the site and found some that look like it, but I’m not 100% sure since this one had markings and I couldn’t seem to find any with similar markings.” Based on the picture alone, we would have concluded that this is a duff millipede. These critters feed on decomposing organic matter such as fungi and algae, and are not harmful to humans. Typically, they live in tree bark or under nettles, but they have been known to invade people’s homes. Like most species of millipedes, they will do this if the conditions outside grow to warm and dry, which is why they typically seek shelter in basements or garages, where it is cool and dry.

“I found this in my home”, states this reader about the long, white worm-like organism pictured below. “I have been tortured lately by some unknown “thing” in my house. May it be bugs, worms, or something else; I found this when I woke up after a very rough night. I got a ton of bites on me. I’m not sure what’s going on but please give advice. Any is helpful. I know you can’t give medical advice but if you can try to identify the possible “worm” pictures that would be great. I was leaning towards a tapeworm possibly. Thank you for your time.”

“I picked what seems to be some type of small black worm and maybe a mite”, writes this reader in his submission regarding the minuscule organism pictured below. “Their bite can be painful and they are penetrating and seem to be nesting in my skin. I cannot find what they are and I have tried everything. I have tea about biting bugs to get rid of them. 200 degrees heating of my semi, 140 degree heating of my clothes: they live through the wash. Please help me as I am infested.” First things first, we need to make clear that we will unfortunately not be able to identify these creatures. This is because our reader has made it very clear that they are infesting his body and causing health problems for him. As such, we can only assume the situation is medical in nature. Since we are not medical professionals, we are neither qualified nor legally able to identify organisms that cause such issues, because doing so would be tantamount to providing a diagnosis, and taking a non-medical professional’s medical advice can do more harm than good.

“What is this worm?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the long, translucent worm pictured below. “I am not sick – no symptoms of gastric problems.”

“Can you identify this worm found in my toilet bowl after peeing?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the red, semi-transparent worm pictured below. “Doctor I visited was very uncertain but suspected it was a schistosoma.”

“Why is no one in the medical community helping us?” asks this reader in their submission regarding parasitic worms. “The reason why no one knows about these things, especially doctors, is a mystery to me. I have been throwing them up for eight years, four to five hours a day.”

“Can you identify this bug?” asks this reader in his submission regarding the yellow-green creature pictured below. “I have been having a problem with parasites and no one believes me, so I bought an over-the-counter anti-parasitic medication and then I felt this crawling from under my shirt.”

“Have you ever seen this before?” asks this reader in her submission. “I KNOW I have some sort of intestinal parasite, and my doctor agrees.”

“What do fluke eggs look like?” is all this reader asks in his submission. No photos are attached, but that would make sense, given that the answer to our reader’s question is that fluke eggs are microscopic.

“Please help, I’ve been plagued by this for eight years!” states this reader in her submission to us. “I lost my hair. It’s in my nose, mouth, ears, eyes, and stomach. I’ve lost my children because they said I had delusional parasitosis?”

“I have some kind of mite or worm under my skin and need help finding out what it is”, is all this reader states in his submission, which is also lacking in photos. Generally speaking, it is incredibly difficult for us to identify organisms without sufficient context or photos, but in this case, we will unfortunately not be able to help our reader in any case.

“Hello we are based in New Zealand and have had problems with a type of parasite, but we don’t know what it is”, states this reader about the black, spiky organisms pictured below. “We have already gone to medical professionals. We are deemed crazy yet have got multiple photos and samples.”