Fixed Behaviours and Migration in Parasitic Flatworms

     Parasites can have a detrimental effect on all animal and plant life.  They infest their host, and more often than not, causing extreme illness, or, very often, fatality.  By learning how parasites function and their different behaviors, it can become possible to prevent sicknesses and death because of parasites.  Dr. Suzanne Sukhdeo, a parasitologist at Rutgers University, is doing just that.  Dr. Sukhdeo primarily studies the behavioral and migration patterns of parasites that infest many plants and animals that are consumed by humans.  In Dr. Sukhdeo's research paper, published in the International Journal for Parisitology, "Fixed Behaviours and Migration in Parasitic Flatworms", she studies how parasites know which direction to travel and how to get to their designated area of the body.  As many already know, eating an organism with parasites will almost always allow the parasite into your own body, causing you to become extremely ill.  The study of parasite behavior is a relatively new field, because it was unknown for centuries that parasites had very distinct behaviors and migratory patterns.  How does a liver fluke almost always know which direction to travel in order to get to the liver?  How does a tapeworm know how to get to the intestines?  This study has the potential to prevent fatal sicknesses stemming from the infestation of parasites.