Parasites

Analysis and Comment (5)

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Getting infested children to sit still long enough to complete a treatment is probably more difficult than removing the head lice themselves. Vera Davai/AAP

Head lice infestations: don’t let back-to-school bloodsuckers drain your patience

By Cameron Webb

Across the country, tiny blood-sucking parasites are settling in for the new school year. Head lice infestation, officially known as pediculosis, is common in primary school-aged children. But don’t worry…
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Brain cancer and schizophrenia are the two most recent human conditions linked to Toxoplasma gondii. shioshvili

Your cat has toxoplasmosis and you’re worried? Join the club

By Rob Brooks

I should admit straight up that I’m no fan of cats. Like any zoologist I treasure the rare glimpses I have had of lions, leopards, serval and even ocelot. But I have never understood the devotion of so…
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Bed bugs are among the souvenirs you could bring home from a trip to the London Olympics. Armed Forces Pest Management Board

Will bugs bite at the London Olympics?

By Cameron Webb

Travelling to the London Olympics? What do you expect to bring back? Some amazing sporting memories? A medal? How about some bed bug bites, or, worse still, a few bugs to kick off an infestation at home…
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It’s all love and cuddles until the seven-year itch. purplemattfish

Why do women have less body hair than men?

By James Giles, La Trobe University

The question of why human beings have virtually no body hair – as discussed yesterday on The Conversation – has puzzled evolutionary theorists since Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871). It’s puzzling because…
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Hair may be our last defence against things that go bug in the night. M i x y

Shave tight? Don’t let the bed bugs bite

By Mark Elgar, University of Melbourne

Writing almost 140 years ago in his book Naturalist in Nicaragua, the European naturalist Thomas Belt engaged in a lively debate about why certain breeds of dogs in tropical America were hairless. The…

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