parasitic mind control

don’t think you’re immune, ’cause you’re full of them too! every living thing is crawling with them, at least every animal. i suppose it’s only when something upsets that delicate balance called health that we might notice them. or rather, we notice their effects.

i will finish with human parasites in a moment. here are some interesting insect/animal parasite stories:

apparently, there is a type of parasite (“hairworms”) that likes to live off grasshoppers. when it is ready to reproduce, it excretes neurotoxic chemicals that cause the grasshopper to essentially commit suicide by leaping into water. while its host is drowning, the parasite safely swims away to breed in the water. no kidding. read it at national geographic.

there is another parasite who spends part of its youth in ants. however, once it matures enough, it really would rather move to birds. how to solve this problem? easy! control the mind of the ant, causing it to attach itself to the top of a blade of grass, where the ant is more likely to be eaten by a bird. science says it’s the Dicrocoelium dendriticum, a lancet fluke. (the ant section is in the middle of the article, more or less, but you should read all of it anyways.)

three’s the charm, right? so when mice smell cat urine, it normally causes high anxiety and other fear reactions in them, and they avoid those areas. but there is a certain parasite that spends part of its life cycle in a mouse and at a certain point wishes to advance to cats. in order to get to the cats, the parasite causes a mouse to no longer have a reaction to cat urine, thus giving it a better chance of wandering across the path of a hungry kitty. don’t believe me? it’s the Toxoplasma parasite.

and you thought your thoughts were yours and yours alone!

now, people can get parasites in their brains too, just like this lady who ate a bad taco in 2001:

However Becerra ingested the parasite, it attached itself as an egg to her intestinal wall. Eventually, the egg developed into the worm, which moved into her blood stream and to her brain, said Dr. Joseph Sirven, who operated on Becerra. Once in the brain, the worm causes little harm until it eventually dies and decays, thereby inflaming surrounding tissue.

“It’s after the worm dies that the body reacts to something foreign,” Sirven explained.

And finally, here are some examples of the types of parasites probably enjoying you RIGHT NOW as you sit here reading about them:

SMALL SAMPLE OF HUMAN PARASITES
GIARDIA – infection rates – 2-15% in various parts of the world
Cryptosporidium – Waterborne outbreak in Milwaukee, Wis. in the water supply in 1993 infected 300,000. Data indicates there are 500 million cryptosporidium infections worldwide.

Genital Protozoa
*TRICHOMONAS - (5 million women and 1 million men in U.S. infected)

Nervous System Protozoa
* NAEGLERIA FOWLERI – Closely resembles bacterial meningitis but is a protozoa found in moist soil and fresh water. Acute suppurative infection of the brain and meninges.

Tissue Protozoa
*ACANTHAMOEBA – These organisms invade the adrenal’s, brain, eyes, kidney, liver, pancreas, skin, spleen, thyroid, and uterus.
* PNEUMOCYSTIS CARINII – Recognized in recent years as an important cause of Pneumonia, particularly in AIDs patients.
*TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS – From ingestion of raw or poorly cooked pork, bear, walrus, or other carnivores. They go through the lymphatic system to the muscles and invade the diaphragm, tongue, jaws, neck, biceps and gastrocnemius. These create cysts which are encapsulated by the host. In some cases calcification of the cysts occurs. This also causes weakening of the muscles.

Blood Parasites
* MALARIA – 300 million people per year infected. Blood born parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. It is not epidemic in the U.S. but is still considered a life threatening ailment for travelers.
* BABESIA SPP. First discovered in Texas cattle in 1888 and is now recognized as the cause of Texas cattle fever transmitted by ticks. Severe outbreaks have occurred in the northern U.S. The organism like Malaria infects the Red Blood Cells. This is potentially fatal.

Intestinal Nematodes
*ASCARIS LUMRICOIDES – Largest of the nematodes – Can go up to a foot in length. “The number of people infected in the world with this parasite is only second to the number infected with pinworms.” Eggs hatch in stomach and the larvae invade the intestinal walls. Then they go to the lungs. Worms may migrate due to stimuli such as fever, general anesthesia, or other abnormal conditions. This migration can result in intestinal blockage and infestation of vital organs.
*E. VERMICULARIS – The common pinworm. In most people the only symptom is an itchy anus, irritability and insomnia. These are very common and I quote directly from the text reads “You had this infection as a child, you have it now or you will get it again when you have children”.
*TRICHURIS TRICHIURA – Known as the Whipworm. These are about an inch long. They are rarely seen in the stool as they are attached to the intestinal walls. These contribute to anemia as they suck blood and also cause dysentery.
*HOOKWORMS - Globally 900 million people have these. These little guys steal valuable iron. They can cause both mental and physical retardation.
*TRICOSTRONHGYLUS SPP. Found in herbivores throughout the world. Grazing areas are constantly reinfected. Human infection of S. steroralis is acquired by skin penetration of the filariform larvae from the soil.

Liver & Lung Trematodes or Flukes
*Clonorchis, Opisthorchis and Fasciola are tremadodes that parasitize the biliary ducts and gall bladders of humans. Over 40 million people have acquired food borne trematode infections. Infections occur from Raw fish or uncooked water plants. Carried by dogs, cats and other fish eating animals.
*PARAGONIMUS SPP. – Found in the lungs of carnivores and humans first detected in 1828. Light infestations are asymptomatic, although lung lesions may be noted on X-ray examination. Sometimes mistaken for cancer of the lungs. Eventually chronic cough develops with blood tinged sputum and vague chest pains. Estimates are 22 million people worldwide have these.

Blood Trematodes or Flukes
*SCHISTOSOMES have infected more than 200 million people worldwide. The spleen can become congested and increase in size. These can travel all over the body to most organs and can even cause seizures when they get into the brain. They have been reported to invade the spinal cord.

do take note that in many of these cases–including the insect/mice stories–the key to becoming infected with the parasite is ingesting the flesh of another animal. (of course if you eat unwashed fruits & veggies or drink from a water source that something has shat on or in at some point, that won’t help you out either.)

doesn’t it just make you feel all warm & fuzzy?

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