Totemism and the transmission of human pentastomiasis

Abstract

Many tribes in Ghana have totems which they may relate with closely. The python is the totem of many of the tribes in the savanna belt of Ghana. Four cases of human pentastomiasis diagnosed incidentally through surgery and autopsy at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital all have the python as their totem and might have been in contact with this creature in the past. The transmission of the parasites to these people probably was directly from infested snake slime to humans.