More than 20% of Americans have these septic systems, as they are known, including the very richest, such as those who live in the Hamptons area of Long Island. Graphic titled 'How parasites potentially spread through failing septic systems' shows how parasites might flow from house to the surrounding soil After some biodegradation in the tank, liquid is allowed to percolate into the ground as a kind of rudimentary sewage treatment. Instead, the homes have ageing individual sewer systems in which effluent from toilets, sinks, showers and appliances is pumped into an underground tank next to the home. There is no official garbage collection, nor are there sidewalks. On the other hand, they also lack services that most Americans take for granted. On one hand, because it is located outside any particular city – it is, in official terms, “unincorporated” – there are fewer regulations, and residents are freer to do renovations without inspections, for instance. Early on, coyotes could be heard howling at night, and it still has a verdant, peaceful feel. It was “a little oasis for immigrant families”, said Monica. A few residents described buying a half-acre for just over $10,000, and they lived in mobile or modular homes, or built structures with their own hands. Rancho Vista emerged in the mid-1980s, when a developer parcelled the land. Photograph: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Guardian Monica Reyes Ibarra points out an area of her father’s yard that is prone to flooding during hard rains. If the parasites had been found “in any other neighborhood, even just across the county line where there are people of other races, there would be an uproar: ‘how dare you keep us living in these conditions, how are children potentially exposed to harmful parasites that are only found in other developing countries.’ That would be unheard of. “I feel like everyone has passed the buck on this neighborhood because it’s low-income, it’s primarily Hispanic, immigrants,” said Monica. It feels like we’re screaming into a void and no one is listening Monica Reyes Ibarra The researchers argue that this cluster is linked to one crucial, but often overlooked, aspect of intense US poverty: despite their best efforts, residents are subject to terrible sanitary system failures.
They say no one with the ability to help is paying attention to their plight, and there has been no systematic attempt to eliminate the Strongyloides.
Now Reyes Ibarra and her sister, Monica, are sharing their story, as are other of their neighbors.
But the parasite infections in her area have stayed under the radar, in part because the researchers preserved the town’s anonymity, identifying it as “Community A”. But at certain moments – such as when the host is taking steroids – they can become deadly.Īfter the letters went out, a scientific paper was published about Reyes Ibarra’s neighborhood as part of the same research project. Strongyloides can survive undetected in humans for decades, producing generation after generation. The Reyes Ibarra sisters say this area is prone to flooding and stagnant water during hard rains. Water drainage pipes in the Rancho Vista community.
In one common infection pathway, they can burrow through the skin of a person walking barefoot, entering the bloodstream, then the lungs, and ascend the windpipe, where they are coughed up and then swallowed. If the larvae are able to contaminate soil – for instance, because of a sewage leak – they can survive for up to three weeks. It inhabits the guts of humans and other animals, and its larvae are excreted during defecation. The intestinal parasite is known by its scientific name, Strongyloides (pronounced stron-ji-LOY-dees). They ranged from a woman who was pregnant to a two-year-old child. “Using a research diagnostic blood test,” the letter read, “we have determined that you may have been infected with a parasite.” The letter advised Reyes Ibarra to seek medical treatment.įifteen other residents of the tiny Texas community where Reyes Ibarra lives received the same test result, after dozens gave blood and stool samples for an academic study. She called her boyfriend, her mom and her sisters over: “You guys, look what I got, I think it’s a scholarship.”īut as she scanned the page, she suddenly wasn’t sure she had the courage to read it out to them. W hen the letter arrived with the logo of a noted university in the corner, Veronica Reyes Ibarra expected good news.