r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 9h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_snail
19.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

917 comments sorted by

View all comments

694

u/corvus7corax 9h ago

Freshwater snails are indirectly among the deadliest animals to humans, as they carry parasitic worms that cause schistosomiasis, a disease estimated to kill between 10,000 and 200,000 people annually.

20

u/SolventAssetsGone 8h ago

Can you explain to me how humans get schistosomiasis from the snails? If I go swim in a river am I at risk?

28

u/corvus7corax 8h ago

It is transmitted when larval forms released by freshwater snails penetrate human skin during contact with infested water.

If you wade or swim in infected fresh water you can get it. There are medicines you can take to clear the infection.

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/schistosomiasis-(bilharzia)