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Particular worms residing in African snails may get transferred to human beings too. They lead to illness, known as schistosomiasis but also referred to as bilharzia. They might lead to chills, fever, decades of complications, inflammation or even death, according to CNN.

The worms get released from snails, wander around freely and can insert themselves into people's skins and infect them. They may live inside the human body for years, maybe even decades.

"Any freshwater which has these snails in them could be the cause of infection," said professor Alan Fenwick with the Imperial College London. "There are 25 to 35 million people infected in sub-Saharan Africa with HIV (and) 10 times that number of people after affected by schistosomiasis."

The worms may cause diarrhea, blood in the stool or urine and other fibrosis of the liver and kidney, according to the World Health Organization.

Fortunately for residents of the United States, schistosomiasis is not found in the country currently, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.