NELSPRUIT – All he could think of upon feeling something move in his mouth was to spit said Mr Adrian van Wyk as he recounted his revolting experience to Lowvelder. After an admittedly thirsty Van Wyk took a second, large, gulp of tap water on Saturday, he felt something move in his mouth.
“I immediately spat the water back into the glass,” he said and noticed a long and extremely thin worm-like creature in the water.
Local entomologist, Mr Schalk Schoeman of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) confirmed it was a member of the nematode species. Nematodes are animal parasites. Schoeman added the he had personally also seen one emerge from a tap a while ago. This is, most likely, a case of an infected cockroach climbing up a spout, dying, and the worm emerging, in his expert opinion.
These parasites have a proclivity for moist environments and you may encounter it from time to time in or around your indoor plumbing. Harmless to humans and pets, these creatures only appear frightening, often when they are observed exiting the body cavity of an insect host.
According to Mr Louis Hurter of Pro Property, the managing agents for the apartment building where Van Wyk resides in Murray Street, there is no record of similar complaints from other residents. He also confirmed that there is no storage tank and water is supplied directly by council. “I did, however, report the incident to the board,” Hurter said.
He is not traumatised by the event, admitted Van Wyk, but he definitely takes more care with his drinking water. “I boil the water now before drinking it,” he declared.
• Known as horsehair worms, nematodes are most commonly seen following rains.
• Within 24 hours after hatching in a water source, the larvae encyst on vegetation near the water’s edge. After the water level drops, the exposed vegetation is eaten by a grasshopper or cricket. The cyst covering dissolves, permitting juvenile worms to bore through the gut wall and into the body cavity of the host.
• No control measures are recommended because horsehair worms do not injure humans, domestic animals, or plants. Instead, they are considered beneficial because they kill many harmful pests such as grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, beetles, millipedes, and centipedes.
Source: https://entoweb.okstate.edu/ddd/insects/horsehairworms.htm
This is the worm that van Wyk found in his water:
