Secondly, while we maintain the stance that horsehair worms do not purposely infect humans, we agree that they can indeed end up in humans, and we have research to back that up. To this we want to first say that we appreciate any and all feedback that our readers provide us, and we are more than happy to clear up this once and for all. We have received a lot of feedback on our articles about horsehair worms, in which we state that horsehair worms do not infect humans, stating that we should correct this, as there have been cases of humans becoming infected by horsehair worms. Now, besides the myth surrounding their name, that horsehair worms actually develop in the manes of horses and fall down when the horses feed, there is a lot of misinformation regarding the parasitization of humans. Once consumed, the cyst dissolves and the larva is free to burrow into the stomach of the insect and begin maturation. The catch is that the larva is covered by a cyst, thus protecting them from dying upon consumption.
And it is in this body of water that the egg hatches, releasing a microscopic larva that will then eventually be consumed by an insect. In fact, the eggs of the horsehair worms are laid in bodies of water. When they are not inside a host though, they prefer aquatic environments. To start with, horsehair worms (Nematomorpha) are parasites of invertebrates: mostly insects, though they have been known to take crustaceans as hosts as well. Photo of Horsehair Worm from Previous Article
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