BBC series will look at parasites
A doctor has deliberately infested himself with a tapeworm and then filmed it growing inside his gut, for a new BBC television series due to air later this month.
Dr Michael Mosley swallowed live cysts from infected meat to play host to the tapeworm. He then consumed a pill sized camera so viewers can see the tapeworm's growth close up.
It is one of the many experiments he undertakes on himself for BBC Four's Michael Mosley: Infested! Living With Parasites.
He is joined by entomologist Dr James Logan as he gets to grips with one of the UK's most widespread childhood nuisances – the head louse. Using a video microscope the two men observe the lice as they suck Dr Mosley's blood.
Around a quarter of the population is believed to be infected by toxoplasma gondii which is contracted from cat faeces. A common parasite, it is not visible to the human eye but is thought to alter human behaviour by infecting the brain.
Some scientists believe it makes the carrier more likely to adopt riskier behaviour and so Dr Mosley – who has previously taken magic mushroom hallucinogenic drug Psilocybin as part of an experiment – takes a test to see if he is infected with gondii.
He draws the line at infecting himself with a life-threatening malaria parasite carried by mosquitos. Instead a new imaging technique is used to show his blood cells being taken over in a test tube.
Finally the series will see Dr Mosley being bitten by a leech which can consume more than five times its own body weight in blood. They were once sold by medieval healers as a means to cure ailments and are now used in some microsurgery.
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