“Have you seen these anywhere as endoparasites?” asks our reader about the matter pictured below. Our reader details the characteristics of an endoparasite, as well as the symptoms they cause for the hosts they take, and we will share that information with the rest of our readers today.

A previous reader of ours from Crystal Springs Florida, who wrote in about what he guessed was scabies, has contacted us again with a very interesting question. He asks, “how can we get the medical community to re-engage the parasitic population that is beginning to steadily increase, specifically around the gulf coast?”

Blood flukes, which make up the genus Schistosoma, are a type of parasitic flatworm that cause schistosomiasis, an infection that afflicts tens of millions of people a year. Schistosomiasis is in fact the second most socioeconomically harmful parasitic disease in the world, according to the World Health Organization. (Only malaria is more harmful.) Below we provide a brief guide and overview of blood flukes that includes the most essential information about this parasitic disease. We will also provide links to some of the best sources for information about blood flukes online.