"What is the Most HORRIFIC Real or Fictional Parasite?" Topic

My vote would be the Candiru:
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What would YOU nominate as the most terrifying? Remember: your candidate could be real OR fictional.

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Lawyers

Another link to the Candiru:
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I stand corrected. Lawyers are the most horrific, followed by reporters and politicians.

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When studying Parasites of Military importance when in the RAF this one always gave me nightmares

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Exstremely parasitic and they scare me,

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How about TWO 'ex-wives'….(and their attorneys!)

***SHUDDER****

Although 'in fiction', the idea of poor Harry Mudd stuck on the android planet with 500 robotic duplicates of HIS wife, 'Stella' would be 'inhuman'….Remember, he had her created in the first place to 'rejoice in her absence'…and had confided to Kirk and McCoy that she was the 'driving force' in his travels…every time he thought of her…he went FURTHER OUT into the Galaxy…(the man was a 'visionary'!!!)

As for 'horror'…The ORIGINAL Outer Limits episode 'The Invisibles'…was pretty scary…or the 'Zanti Misfits'…for all their 'comical wire bug/stop motion/craftstore look'…(Bruce Dern's demise!)…

But for TRUE, real-life horror…I still vote for ex's WITH attorneys…because it NEVER TRULY ENDS>>>>

Lt. DWW….(leaving for the black, tell them I ain't coming back…Now that I've found Serenity…)

Lawyers! Good one! :-|

w.

I'll agree with the lawyers ranking way up there. hahaha.

Brother in law?

When I was around 8 years old we had shrimp curry, during which I was watching the Wrath of Kahn. Those little things that burrow into Chekov's ear still creep me out (and totally turned me off shrimp curry…)

Well, the Xenomorphs of 'Alien', et al., are something of the 'classic' scifi parasite. I'd say they're pretty darn horrific, what with the facehugger/chestburster bit.

I'd vote for the Flood, of 'Halo' fame, as a close second to the Vang Oormlikowool, on whom the Flood are (I think) modeled. The Vang were mentioned in 'Starhammer', and were the stars of 'Vang: Military Form' and 'Vang: Battlemaster', all by Christopher Rowley. They were a bit more about a complete takeover rather than parasitization.

As for real-world ones – there's a worm that infests a certain type of snail, making it crawl on the top of the leaves instead of the bottom, so it's more likely to be eaten by birds, thus providing an essential part of the worm's lifecycle (a trip through the avian digestive tract). Worse still, it resides in it's 'head', making it's antennae pulse with bright throbbing colors. Here I am birdie, eat me!

Anything that paralyzes prey so that the young can eat it is pretty scary. The wasp larvae that eat out the insides of live caterpillars, from least important organs to most, is bad, too.

On a personal level, the idea of a worm – any worm – crawling around inside me is nauseating. I don't like ingrown hairs, let alone parasites.

angelfire.com/ms/guineaworm

Chogokin,

Man that is weird if real whats next, Bubonic plague?

It's got to be the Space Herpes from the Ice Pirates movie. :)

But what did the Space Herpes do that was so nasty? It just ran around the place. Surely that's better than the real thing! ;)

Bot Flies
Spaghetti Worms. The larva burrow into the skin if you step in affected water. Once mature, the large foot loong but spaghetti thin worms borrow and crawl under the skin down to the ankles and form a fluid-filled blister. When it comes in contact with water, it bursts, and the spaghetti worm releases it's larva.

Ah, so guinea worms are what I'm talking about… :)

This is worse:
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Warning! More pictures:
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AAAARRRRGHHHHH!!!!

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An actual, but physically non-existent parasite that can cause psychological trauma over a period of time is the "earworm". This manifests itself by the replaying over and over in the person's mind any of a multitude of annoying jingles (e.g. "It's a Small World"; "Raindrops keep falling on my head"; various commercials, etc.), which you just can't seem to "get out of your ear". Sadly, the only know "cure" is to replace one earworm with another…. ;)

NVDOYLE,

I would hate to be that "Zombie" snail!

"I must climb that plant and be eaten by a bird . . . "
"I must climb that plant and be eaten by a bird . . . "
"I must climb that plant and be eaten by a bird . . . "

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I would hate for something like that to be modified to "Zombify" humans!

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That snail thing is CRAZY WIERD!
How does something like that evolve?!!!

Maybe aliens are testing the parasite on snails before they introduce it to humans!!!

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AAARGH!

Nature is horrible.

Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

I can only come up with one response to Roberto's find:

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Yikes!

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Distribution maps of these parasites:
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I never ever, ever want to go to Africa, or South America…… ewww

As for real-world ones – there's a worm that infests a certain type of snail, making it crawl on the top of the leaves instead of the bottom, so it's more likely to be eaten by birds, thus providing an essential part of the worm's lifecycle (a trip through the avian digestive tract)

Saw something similiar on the Science Channel. A parasite spore that, when ingested by an ant, becomes a larva that travels to the brain. There it controls the ant and forces it to climb to the end of a stalk of grass and hang there.

The ant is eaten by a passing rabbit where it travels to the liver (I think), matures and begins releasing spores that are "passed" by the rabbit.

These spores are then breathed in by snails. The lungs of the snail coat the spore with mucus until it is of a size that it is eventually coughed up and out.

This "snail snot" seems to be a favorite food of ants who eat it, releasing the spore to start the whole process again.

Speaks more of "Rube Goldburg" then "Intelligent Design".

Tim

btw,thinking about intelligent design, why would God create a fish that could swim up your urine stream and burrow into your your penis. Doesn't sound very intelligent to me. Downright malicious maybe, but not intelligent.

Remember, God is love and the candiru really really loves you.

The flying fried egg thing from Star Trek…:D

The Flood. Period.

What about 'flesh-eating bacteria'…a fairly RARE, but fast-moving bacterial infection that is immune to most antibiotics/disinfectants??? and once 'entrenched' requires removal of the infected tissue, (and a buffer area too???) almost like a superfast 'cancer'???

It reminds me of the 'blob' or any other of a dozen 'scifi' or D&D type 'monsters'…that 'eat you alive'/absorb you while still 'conscious' and you feel the whole thing almost!
(the stuff on the one astronauts arm in 'Angry Red Planet' that they got to 'leave' by running electricity thru his arm and it 'migrated' to some other tissue they had next to it so they saved him…?) The had to electrify their ship's hull to be able to take off…as the amoeba? had eaten one of their crew/surrounded the ship? Then there was Journey to the Seventh Planet…where a giant brain 'swallowed' an unfortunate astronaut???

That all is pretty 'horrible'…(the Andromeda Strain was pretty scarey, but folks died QUICK…)

A truly 'successful' parasite/virus/bacterial, etc may drain the host/live off it…but doesn't kill it quickly…at least till it can grow/multiply and be able to 'spread/reproduce' and send out some 'young'…but no-body ever claimed that most parasites were THAT 'smart'…at least in the long run. That would require a more 'symbiotic relationship'???

Of course…they are still around, (most of them)…because they do reproduce so fast/often…that even though the hosts die/etc…enough of the 'offspring'…(at least as a species)..survive to infect and reproduce again…

Doesn't it make you feel all 'Circle of Life/Kumbayah-ish' to know that while we MIGHT be the 'top of the food chain', it's really more of a 'circle'??? From dust we come and to dust we return…(with a little help from our 'friends'…)…

Carpe' Disinfectantantibacterialism'um,
Lt DWW

Ya know, there are just some things man was never meant to see, and many of them are posted here.

Personally I think anyone who feels the need to wade into a river to urinate deserves all he gets. What's wrong with behind a bush, on the bank?

What gets people 'infected' by that catfish is the ammonia in the urine. A fish's gills naturally release some ammonia.

DWW, a friend of mine got infected with MRSA. Damn near killed her. MRSA is massively resistant to most antibiotics, and sucessful treatment requires the better part of six month's on very powerful antibiotics, or just the amputation of the affected limb. It's also fairly common. As long as you don't get it inside your skin, you're OK.

@Lion

I'm sure you know that I meant NO 'pun/disrespect' in my comment about the 'MRSA/flesh-eating bacteria'…but I wanted to make sure!

I remember seeing an episode of x-files or something like that…but that isn't what prompted the comment. There was a photo/story in Time or Newsweek? that showed a young kid, (little-leaguer type in baseball cap)…who'd gotten it thru scratch on his leg. They had to 'excise tissue'…(looked like they CUT a chunk of his leg out!)…leaving a real 'dent'huge scar/stitches' in his leg…and he could have lost his leg! All of this from 'just a scratch'? He wasn't 'bad immunity' or ill in any other way as I recall…it was just a 'fluke' and he was unlucky…but it was that VIRALENT?/potent/wicked…and FAST…too darn fast…

So that's why I listed it as one of the most 'horrific' parisites…worms and etc are 'bad'…no doubt about that…but MOST of this stuff is 'preventable/fairly treatable' with modern meds/etc…but as you stated…even with MOD meds/treatment…MRSA is a real 'booger' and if it ever 'mutates'…becomes airborne/easier to 'catch'…we'd all be in trouble…

Glad your friend made it thru ok though…

Lt DWW

Ok. I just had to look these up . . .

Chekov's ear thingie:
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Flying egg alien thingie:
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Carusoe, The Guinea Worm is ingested by DRINKING the water… Not by stepping in it.

The worm burrows thwough the large intestine down the leg and into the legs/feet, where it creates the burning blister, so that people will go stick their feet back in the water, where the worms will wriggle out (slowly, it usually takes a worm about five to seven days to get out, and there may be more than one worm in the blister)

I can think of some more gruesome parasites, but cannot seem to find any links with pictures. Heart worms or Brain worms come to mind. I remember in medical anatomy drawing class that we had one guy from Africa who had died from one of the second of those. His brain had this wriggling worm in it that had eaten about three-quarters of his brain. That would be a pretty sick way to go…

Also, I have not looked at the links to the "Candiru", but if they are the mythical fish that is supposed to swim up the Urethra… They DON'T…

What they DO do is still pretty gruesome. They bite little holes in your body, and them wriggle into them and eat you from the inside out. They will usually try to get into your abdominal cavity where hundreds can swim into you. That way, even if they get you out of the water; the Candiru can continue eating your guts (and lungs, and heart…Let's not forget them…)

Judas,

I remember the fish you are talking about, but it is not the Candiru:
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Tberry7403,

I think I found your zombie ants:
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Candiru are real. And yes, the females do seek out urea in just that way.

And perhaps so is a balanced kindly God: There is a native cure for the Candiru, a species of pear that has very bitter juice. This juice when consumed passes through the urinary system and dissolves the bones of the fish, allowing it to pass away through the urine stream. At one point, medical companies in the US wanted to try it for doing the same to kidney and bladder stones, but the FDA found out that it was also used as an aphrodisiac, so they banned it totally.

And the zombie ants are actally clever; By climbing onto the grass at night, they are most likely to be eaten by the sheep coming down from the hills so the fluke is passed on. The really clever bit is that the ant goes back home in the morning, and repeats the cycle only at nights so as not to die without being consumed by a sheep.

they banned the pear juice thingy cause it can also be used as an aphrodisiac, but they approved viagra? Its a strange strange world.

Does the pear juice thingy make you go blind?

Yuk.

There are many multi host parasites that have incredibly elegant life cycles intended to maximise their chances of transmission from one host to another.
The most well known after the malaris parasite is the nematode that causes Bilharzia.
Adult worms grow to a massive size and attach to the arteries around the mammalian hosts liver-there are species specific varieties whose life cycles and genetic make up allow them to escape the correct hosts immune system and ensure that they meet up with the correct host species.
In its mammalian host the adult worm produces millions of eggs that are passed in to water supplies and which hatch in to an intermediate larval form that hunts for and buries in to a species specific aquatic snail.
These then alter the behaviour of the snail host so that it moves in to enviroments where it can establish contact with the mammalian host again.
Larval release from the snail host is tied closely to ambient light levels that fit with the species specific periodicity of ,for example, antelopes drinking at a water hole so as to ensure successful transmission.
They are very impressive parasites.

I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

Animal Planet is about to air "Eaten Alive". Enjoy!!!

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