Loa+Loa+Eye+Worm

__**Common Name:**__ Eye Worm, African Eye Worm

__**Scientific Name:**__ Loa loa

__**Phylum:**__ Nematoda

__**Class:**__ Chromadorea

__**Location:**__ This parasitic species mainly infects people who are native to Sudan, and those who live in or near Central and West Africa's swamps and rain forests.

__**Size:**__ Female Loa Loa worms can reach a length of 2 1/2 inches while the males are approximately half of that size.

__**Description of Habitat:**__ They are classified as filarial worms, meaning that that they thrive in human tissue; travel continuously through connective and deep tissue.

__**Living Requirements:**__ They produce sexually, therefore both a female and a male worm must be present in a host in order to have full infestation. In addition to a human host, the worm larvae must be transferred via an intermediate host of a deer or mango fly.

__**Life Cycle:**__ Larvae may remain unnoticed for months or years before becoming an adult, mating and producing offspring. When females do produce offspring- they deposit eggs called microfilariae. These organisms travel into the bloodstream during the daytime- in order to be available to potential fly bites. During the night time, they congregate in the host's lungs.

__**Male/ Female Differences:**__ Size is the main difference between the two sexes; females being double the size of males.

__**Facts:**__
 * 1) Loa Loa Worms can live approximately fifteen years inside their human hosts.
 * 2) Infection is rarely fatal and treatments often cause more life-threatening side effects that the actual infestation, especially if the worms are widespread.
 * 3) Infestation is most obvious as it crosses the conjunctiva of the eye.[[image:eye_worm_3.jpg align="left"]]

__**Human Impact:**__ At one time, prior to the 1920s, this parasite was prevalent in the United States - however now it is greatly limited to the Sudan and Congo regions of African due to treatments, including DEC (diethylcarbamazine) and Ivermectin.

__ Zookeeper's Sources: __ [|http://www.allaboutworms.com/loa-loa-eye-worm] [|http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2006/Loiasis/Index.html] []