1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?

3
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 1: From house stuff works dot Com? Hey there, and welcome

4
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,880
Speaker 1: to the podcast. Is this Kristen and this is Molly,

5
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,279
Speaker 1: So Molly the house stuff works dot Com office has

6
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,360
Speaker 1: been a buzz with parasites lately. Yes, if you haven't noticed,

7
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 1: um there is the show on Animal Planet that is

8
00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,240
Speaker 1: coming out called Monsters Inside Me and it's all about parasites.

9
00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,320
Speaker 1: And we have been trying to think of ways to

10
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:43,120
Speaker 1: talk about how parasites relate specifically to women for the podcast.

11
00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,000
Speaker 1: So you and I did a little bit of research

12
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: this week and I found some pretty compelling information that

13
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: I was I was actually surprised to stumble on. And

14
00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,320
Speaker 1: it has to do with um a possible link between

15
00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:01,160
Speaker 1: parasites and HIV among African women. And HIV among women

16
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,800
Speaker 1: is a huge problem in Africa because, according to the

17
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,920
Speaker 1: Global Coalition of Women in AIDS, of people fifteen to

18
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 1: twenty four infected with HIV our female and more specifically

19
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: in Southern Africa, fifty seven percent of infected young people

20
00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,920
Speaker 1: are female, and in many rural areas in many rural areas.

21
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,280
Speaker 1: Excuse me, For every man that is HIV positive, anywhere

22
00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,160
Speaker 1: from one point three to six point four women are

23
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,399
Speaker 1: now infected. So obviously this is a huge global problem.

24
00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,320
Speaker 1: Those are really some staggering statistics, and a lot of

25
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,399
Speaker 1: the policy that tries to address this problem addresses risky behaviors.

26
00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,000
Speaker 1: You know, we try and spread the word about safe

27
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,040
Speaker 1: sex using condoms, but you know, in doing this research

28
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,680
Speaker 1: on parasites, we learned that educating people just about parasites

29
00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 1: could have a huge implication on those statistics. Right, And

30
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: one major source that we ran across was a chapter

31
00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 1: in a book put out by the International Food Policy

32
00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 1: and Research Institute, And this chat after it was written

33
00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:05,360
Speaker 1: by Eileen still Wagon, and she's talking about addressing HIV

34
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,760
Speaker 1: co factors for infections such as, like you mentioned, parasites,

35
00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 1: malnutrition and these other things aside from just sexual behavior

36
00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:18,200
Speaker 1: that are contributing to high rates of HIV and AH transmission. Right,

37
00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,639
Speaker 1: still Wagon is talking about proven co factors, things that

38
00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,680
Speaker 1: when they happen in conjunction with risky behaviors UH increase

39
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: the chance of transmitting HIV and then actually increase the

40
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,079
Speaker 1: rate at which it UH multiplies in your body, so

41
00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,640
Speaker 1: you become sicker faster. So one of the big co

42
00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,359
Speaker 1: factors is malnutrition. When you don't have enough to eat,

43
00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 1: it compromises your immune system. You know you're already at

44
00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,400
Speaker 1: risk for getting sick, and when you know you add

45
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,080
Speaker 1: in a sexual encounter on top of that, there's a

46
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,239
Speaker 1: greater likelihood that HIV will be spread because the rates

47
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,520
Speaker 1: of transmission between two healthy adults are much lower than

48
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,679
Speaker 1: the rates of transmission between two unhealthy people. Right, and

49
00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:04,640
Speaker 1: on top of malnutrition, especially in sub Saharan Africa, parasites

50
00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,840
Speaker 1: aggravate that problem. And they're already immunocompromise, and once they

51
00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 1: have parasites that are also draining the nutrients inside of

52
00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,240
Speaker 1: their body, that makes it even harder if HIV innerser

53
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,640
Speaker 1: body for them to even fight it off. And we

54
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,160
Speaker 1: hear a lot about as far as parasites go, we

55
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,400
Speaker 1: hear a lot about malaria. Over three million people in

56
00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 1: Africa's suffer from acute malaria each year and almost one

57
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:34,440
Speaker 1: million children Africa die malaria annually, and it stimulates HIV replication.

58
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,800
Speaker 1: But on top of that, there's another less prominent parasite

59
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,720
Speaker 1: related disease, that's been getting a lot more attention that

60
00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,960
Speaker 1: could have a key, especially for preventing HIV and women,

61
00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 1: and that is something called shisto semiasis. That's right. And

62
00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,560
Speaker 1: there are two d seven million cases of shisto semiasis

63
00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,800
Speaker 1: in the world and nine of them are in Africa.

64
00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 1: So obviously this is a huge problem in Africa. And

65
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,360
Speaker 1: what have ones with this condition is you basically get

66
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,360
Speaker 1: it by going into snail infested waters streams where you know,

67
00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,520
Speaker 1: these people might be going to do their laundry, uh,

68
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 1: to wash, to play, you know. The thing that kind

69
00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,240
Speaker 1: of hit home for me and reading this chapter by

70
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,680
Speaker 1: a lean Still Wagnus when she says the riskiest thing

71
00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,719
Speaker 1: for these African children and it's not, you know, a

72
00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,840
Speaker 1: sexual encounter, it's just going swimming basically, right. What happens

73
00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:29,200
Speaker 1: specifically in in these freshwater areas are traumatode flat worms

74
00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,600
Speaker 1: um that are larval forms of parasites that are released

75
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 1: by these freshwater snails and they get into the skin

76
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,240
Speaker 1: of the people who are, like you said, washing their

77
00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,479
Speaker 1: clothes or going swimming or whatever they might be doing.

78
00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:48,440
Speaker 1: And then the larvae will develop into adult schistostomes which

79
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,920
Speaker 1: live in the blood vessels and then the parasites release

80
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,719
Speaker 1: eggs um which pass out of the body in urine

81
00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,520
Speaker 1: or feces, and others are trapped in body tissues. And

82
00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,280
Speaker 1: one of the major problems between shift to semiosis and

83
00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 1: HIV is the fact that a lot of the parasites

84
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,719
Speaker 1: will develop in the genito urinary tract, right, So you've

85
00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,880
Speaker 1: got them on the vagina, You've got them in the cervix,

86
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 1: and that's sort of the main place where HIV can

87
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 1: be transmitted. So you've got people, you know, with a

88
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,120
Speaker 1: lot of open source basically because once the worms are

89
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:23,839
Speaker 1: fully in there, you're left with a lot of source.

90
00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 1: It almost looks like a sexually transmitted infection, which is

91
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 1: why a lot of people don't seek treatment for this,

92
00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,000
Speaker 1: because it's a lot of stigma to go to a

93
00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,800
Speaker 1: doctor and say, you know, I've got bloody vaginal source, right, Molly.

94
00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,800
Speaker 1: And because of all of those factors combined, uh still

95
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,719
Speaker 1: Wagon points out that, with the possible exception of malaria shista,

96
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:49,520
Speaker 1: semiosis is the most significant parasitic co factor of HIV

97
00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,480
Speaker 1: transmission because of where they're colonizing and how the making

98
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,000
Speaker 1: the perfect entry point for HIV virus. Because basically once

99
00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,719
Speaker 1: the virus is there, it's just got all sorts of

100
00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:02,960
Speaker 1: body fluids to interact with the blood stream with that

101
00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:07,920
Speaker 1: open sore gives UH the HIV a direct trans direct

102
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,159
Speaker 1: access to the bloodstream, right and straight for the blood stream,

103
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,159
Speaker 1: making an infection and then as you said, replicating much

104
00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:16,839
Speaker 1: more quickly than it might otherwise. Right, And this is

105
00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 1: happening in men as well. Men can also develop shist

106
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,159
Speaker 1: a semiasis, but it's not creating as open of an

107
00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:28,159
Speaker 1: entry point for HIV transmission as it would be developing

108
00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 1: in a female cervix, right, And you know, still Wagons

109
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,479
Speaker 1: at the end mentions a vaccine for this. But we

110
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,760
Speaker 1: happened upon a New York Times article that's very recent

111
00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,719
Speaker 1: May two thousand nine by Donald G McNeil uh talks

112
00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:44,840
Speaker 1: about a drug called and I'm probably not going to

113
00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,880
Speaker 1: pronounce this, right, Mr McNeil uh, pras a quantal And

114
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,839
Speaker 1: they're saying that for thirty two cents per child, you

115
00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:57,920
Speaker 1: could vaccinate children against UH shisto somiasis in the first place, right,

116
00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,520
Speaker 1: so they would never um actually these parasites, and so

117
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,640
Speaker 1: they would have a lowered risk of HIV transmission. According

118
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,440
Speaker 1: to all of this, this research that's been done. But

119
00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,440
Speaker 1: there is one factor to this is that you still

120
00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:16,240
Speaker 1: have to address those UM sexual behavioral co factors because

121
00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:19,560
Speaker 1: it can't obviously cure HIV. I mean this is talking

122
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,080
Speaker 1: about vaccinting children. You still have to talk to like

123
00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,800
Speaker 1: the older females and men in the communities. But it

124
00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,640
Speaker 1: could make a big impact. And there is a pilot

125
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,400
Speaker 1: program in breaking a fast out um for seventy million

126
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,240
Speaker 1: toddlers in school aged children UM who are going to

127
00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,880
Speaker 1: be treated with this vaccine for two million dollars repeating

128
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,520
Speaker 1: every two years for a decade. And this has been

129
00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,240
Speaker 1: hailed as potentially Africa's thirty two cents solution because it

130
00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:51,920
Speaker 1: could have a huge impact on lowering the HIV transmission rate. Yeah,

131
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,040
Speaker 1: because you know, one of the reasons I should plaly

132
00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,240
Speaker 1: point out why you would give this drug to the

133
00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,400
Speaker 1: children is it it kills the worm before they can

134
00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:00,880
Speaker 1: create the strees. It doesn't cure the source, so people

135
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,239
Speaker 1: adults whore I have this will have to seek alternate

136
00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,440
Speaker 1: means of treatment by ultimately, still Wagon's argument in this

137
00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:08,920
Speaker 1: chapter we keep citing is that we need to broaden

138
00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,240
Speaker 1: our HIV policy in Africa, so it educates people about

139
00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,560
Speaker 1: this potential parasite. Uh. You know, obviously we need better

140
00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,520
Speaker 1: nutrition methods down there, but it's an interesting way to

141
00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,200
Speaker 1: think about policy as not just you know, teaching people

142
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 1: in Africa to use condoms. Right, And like you said, um,

143
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,480
Speaker 1: the stigma associated with the side effects if she s

144
00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,079
Speaker 1: a surmises if they have these pilot programs and women

145
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,000
Speaker 1: are more aware of what could be happening, that might

146
00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,760
Speaker 1: make them more apt to go seek medical attention if

147
00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:41,920
Speaker 1: they do have those source because they might recognize that

148
00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,040
Speaker 1: it might not be an STD, that it could be

149
00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,440
Speaker 1: this parasitic infection, so it could have a ripple effect.

150
00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,480
Speaker 1: It could, and we hope and of course we hope

151
00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,320
Speaker 1: that it does. Yeah, So if you want to learn

152
00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:56,280
Speaker 1: more about parasites in general, then watch Animal Planet on

153
00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,840
Speaker 1: Wednesday nights nine pm because they're gonna cover all sorts

154
00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,600
Speaker 1: of things on monsters inside me related to parasites. Um.

155
00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:05,240
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're going to be parasites and

156
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: women in Africa, but who knows. And since small and

157
00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,960
Speaker 1: I just touched on a very small portion of the

158
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,080
Speaker 1: issue of women and aids globally, if you would like

159
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:19,040
Speaker 1: to learn more about that, I highly recommend um googling

160
00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,960
Speaker 1: Global Coalition of Women and AIDS and heading over to

161
00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 1: their website. They have a lot of great information and

162
00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,400
Speaker 1: good statistics as well. And that's a coproject of the

163
00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,679
Speaker 1: United Nations and just we have a lot of parasite

164
00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,360
Speaker 1: infro in general at the blogs that has stuff works Kristen,

165
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,200
Speaker 1: I have a blog. We've done each a few parasite posts,

166
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,400
Speaker 1: so check out how to stuff but how stuff works

167
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:48,160
Speaker 1: dot com listener mild Yes, So we did have a

168
00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,760
Speaker 1: few observant listeners who realized that we didn't quite answer

169
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,200
Speaker 1: the question we set out to in the podcast, our

170
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,319
Speaker 1: organic Foods Healthier. I blame this on the fact is

171
00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,520
Speaker 1: that we wanted to just really talk about food. We

172
00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:01,800
Speaker 1: were hungry when we recorded the podcast. We wanted to

173
00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,360
Speaker 1: touch on the foods that are better to buy organic

174
00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 1: and kind of skimped on the question. So a lot

175
00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,240
Speaker 1: of people wrote in saying, well, is it true? Can

176
00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,600
Speaker 1: uh you know the pesticides pesticides that are on these

177
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,640
Speaker 1: foods harm me? Can they kill me? What's the deal

178
00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,720
Speaker 1: with the pesticides? All right, So and I will instead

179
00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,080
Speaker 1: of reading the listener mail, I guess I'm reading listener

180
00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,920
Speaker 1: response mail. This is the answer that I offered out

181
00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,280
Speaker 1: to a couple of listeners who wrote in about this,

182
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,559
Speaker 1: and I said, from what I can gather, the jury

183
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,360
Speaker 1: is still out on weather and how pesticides from the

184
00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,199
Speaker 1: food we eat really harm the body in large doses.

185
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,640
Speaker 1: Researchers has shown that they can fry our nervous system

186
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,200
Speaker 1: and disrupt our endocrine systems, which is especially harmful for

187
00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,880
Speaker 1: children since it affects secondary sex characteristics and development. And

188
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,400
Speaker 1: according to the Environmental Working Group, pesticides and food are

189
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,360
Speaker 1: most harmful to fetal and child development rather than adults.

190
00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,240
Speaker 1: And the BBC is also reported that some pesticides promote

191
00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,400
Speaker 1: bacteria growth on some food that can lead to food poisoning.

192
00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:08,600
Speaker 1: At the same time, there are plenty of stories out

193
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,120
Speaker 1: there as well that refute the health and environmental benefits

194
00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,319
Speaker 1: of organics and uh I look for a little insight

195
00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,640
Speaker 1: on the e p a's role in regulating the pesticides

196
00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:20,959
Speaker 1: on the food we eat, and basically, the e p

197
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 1: A sets what are called tolerance levels of how much

198
00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,720
Speaker 1: of pesticide residue can be left on food that we

199
00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,960
Speaker 1: buy in the grocery store without being harmful to humans,

200
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,880
Speaker 1: So there is regulation out there. Even though if you're

201
00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:36,000
Speaker 1: buying a non organic apple and it is covered and

202
00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,360
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of pesticide and that that wax

203
00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:43,960
Speaker 1: gives it that glossy sheen, supposedly it is within the

204
00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:48,599
Speaker 1: realm of safety for human consumption according to e p

205
00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,880
Speaker 1: A and probably FDA standards as well. And you know,

206
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,760
Speaker 1: I think it just sort of I think it can

207
00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:55,679
Speaker 1: come down to the individual. Christ and I are both

208
00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,719
Speaker 1: raised on non organic food. We both seem to think

209
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,920
Speaker 1: we're okay. But we did a email from a listener

210
00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:03,520
Speaker 1: whose son, you know it, started to develop a weird

211
00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,079
Speaker 1: odor and they found that when they switched him off

212
00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,840
Speaker 1: the milk with growth hormones, he did much better. So

213
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,959
Speaker 1: it's it's something I think we can monitor through observation,

214
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,400
Speaker 1: and as Kristen pointed out, it might be a more

215
00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,840
Speaker 1: sensitive issue when someone is a child or an infant

216
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,280
Speaker 1: right or if you are pregnant. Yes, So I hope

217
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,559
Speaker 1: that answers some of y'all's questions about organics, and if not,

218
00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,880
Speaker 1: you should head on over to how stuff works dot

219
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:34,280
Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics.

220
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,160
Speaker 1: Because it how stuff works dot Com. Want more how

221
00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 1: stuff works. Check out our blogs on the house stuff

222
00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:47,600
Speaker 1: works dot com home page. Brought to you by the

223
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,000
Speaker 1: reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. It's ready, are you