Question #702e6

1 Answer

It is a parasitic worm that can invade the human body and cause different kinds of harmful effects.

Just like with any parasitic organism, flatworms can enter the human body either by food intake or can bore through the skin, depending on the worm's type.

Raw or lightly cooked food (mainly meats) and contaminated bodies of drinking water are the main sources for flatworm infections through food intake.

Washing or doing laundry with contaminated water bodies can allow some types of flatworms to bore through the skin and invade the human body.

Flatworms can either infest in the digestive system or invade inside the body cavities; mainly to organs or the central nervous system. The former causes digestion discomfort and malnutrition, the latter can cause adverse organ damage which can be fatal.

Source & Further Reading

http://cosbiology.pbworks.com/w/page/11556273/Lesson%208-01%20Infectious%20Disease