Toxoplasma gondii – Looking to God

Top 10 Most Horrifying Parasites

Posted on June 23, 2014June 19, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Welcome to Monday Mayhem where today, I will be talking about parasites. I was browsing YouTube the other day and came upon a video that’d caused me to delve deeper into the creepy world of parasites. The video goes by the name 10 Horrifying Parasites That Might Be Living Inside You. As I watched, a thought passed through my mind and it went something like this: With all these terrifying parasites on the loose, it’s a wonder why we don’t have zombies running around wreaking havoc on the planet.

Leishmania [Photo credit: CDC Public Health Image Library]

If you haven’t seen the video, here’s a breakdown of its contents. You may want to hold your stomach, as these may get gruesome in description.

10. Leishmania—Transmitted by sandfly bites, this parasite can cause hideous and painful sores. Up to two hundred lesions can form on the body leading to disability and scars. [Source: WHO]

9. Loa Loa—Lives inside the host for up to seventeen years, moving under the skin and causing swelling. Adult worms visibly move across the surface of the eyes. The treatment can result in personality changes. [Source: CDC, Popular Science]

8. Ascaris Lumbricoides—Over one billion people might be hosting these worms that grow up to thirty five centimeters in length. They can live for two years in the intestine and can block it. Victims often show no symptoms. [Source: CDC]

7. Onchocerca Volvulus—A worm that lives inside humans for fifteen years and grows half a meter (over one and a half feet) long. Disfigures skin and causes “River Blindness” resulting in sight loss. Up to eighteen million people are afflicted. [Source: WHO, CNN]

6. Toxoplasma Gondii—Up to fifty percent of human brains are infected with this this parasite spread by cats. Increases risk taking and depression. It might also explain national cultural differences. [Source: NY Times, Huffington Post, Scientific American]

5. Trypanosoma Brucei—Victims have trouble sleeping, poor coordination and are confused. Often fatal, symptoms of “Sleeping Sickness” can take years to appear when it’s already too late. [Source: WHO]

Entamoeba Histolytica [Photo credit: CDC Public Health Image Library]

4. Entamoeba Histolytica—One of the biggest parasitic killers on earth, claiming seventy thousand lives annually. Causes disease amoebiasis that can lead to chronic diarrhea and liver abscesses. [Source: New Scientist, CDIPD]

3. Trichuris Trichiura—Resides in the large intestine and is said to infect eight hundred million worldwide. Leads to diarrhea and anemia but in extreme cases the rectum can protrude from the anus. [Source: Scientific American]

2. Wuchereria Bancrofti—Over one billion people are at risk from this parasite that causes Elephantiasis. Victims suffer from enlarged body parts and resulting disability. [Source: WHO]

1. Naegleria Fowleri—Found in freshwater, the “Brain-Eating Amoeba” targets the brain and nervous system. Can cause PAM, a form of meningitis with a ninety-eight percent mortality rate that kills in weeks. [Source: National Geographic, Stanford University, CDC]

Now that you’ve read the Top 10 Most Horrifying Parasites list, it certainly provides another opportunity to look at other Top 10 lists. How about: Top 10 Ways to Kill Parasites? Or this one: Top 10 Cures for Parasites. If those lists exist, I’m sure I’ll be the first one to see what they have to say. For the time being, these Top 10 parasites have left me to wish I hadn’t known about them. Perhaps they have done the same for you.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What other parasites are there that I haven’t mentioned?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie Apocalypse: Aliens?

Posted on June 9, 2014June 2, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Today, I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while. I’m not sure if anyone will understand, but I’m going to try to explain it as clearly as I can. After all, Monday Mayhem wouldn’t be interesting if occasionally I didn’t include mayhem. Don’t you think?

In past posts, I’ve talked about zombie apocalypse causes. I’ve written about how neurotoxins can inhibit the brain’s ability to utilize cognitive reasoning in order to perform simple tasks. Alkaloids render victims helpless by producing a trancelike state all the while motor skills remain intact.

I’ve also documented how brain parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii could create a zombie crisis by attacking a victim’s brain and converting it into a bowl of mush. The parasite, which originates from ingesting undercooked meat, currently lives in one-third of the world’s population.

Then there’s Cysticercosis a parasite born from consuming undercooked pork infested with Taenia solium eggs. In some cases, the incubation period lasts ten years before symptoms begin to display themselves in the form of muscle swelling, atrophy, and fibrosis, which, in turn, would cause headaches, brain lesions and seizures. Imagine a society succumbing to a worldwide plague of this sort.

Although these zombie apocalypse causes stir the imagination of any undead fan, the one thing I’ve heard with resounding agreement is that we shouldn’t even consider merging the world of zombies with the world of aliens. But you know what I say? I say change is good. Have we forgotten that zombies from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead originated from exposure to satellite radiation?

One cannot deny the similarities between zombies and aliens. For instance, inasmuch as zombies avoid having empty stomachs, likewise, aliens avoid having empty heads. In some form or fashion, every alien movie features extraterrestrials conducting experiments with the human anatomy. Like zombies, malevolent aliens want a piece of us.

If we take it one step further, why, in the first place, do zombies have to spawn from a disease here on earth? Why not have zombies emerge soon after aliens initiate a plan to take over the world? Aliens, deep in the heart of Texas, defeat American armies, transforming them into zombies bent on destroying humanity. Seems plausible, right?

Not everyone would agree, however. Ardent zombie fans would rather not marry genres and keep the status quo.

So, I’ll put the questions to you. Do you think adding aliens to the zombie genre would add a new level of excitement? Would it breathe life in a mature genre? And would the stories encourage other fans to follow the trend?

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What do you think of genre hopping between zombies and aliens?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie Apocalypse: Causes

Posted on May 27, 2013October 27, 2013 by Jack Flacco

The other day, an article published October 29, 2007 on Cracked.com titled 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen, caught my eye. I typically base most of my posts on multiple sources. However, because the site’s article instilled such a horrible chill in my bones, I decided to focus my entire Monday Mayhem post on two of its main points.

To start, Cracked’s scientific reasons made sense. Two in particular had an air of reality that no one could deny. I’ll concentrate on these two, but I’ll add my own spin to the equation. Furthermore, the definition of a zombie comes into question when the victims of these causes remain alive during the time of their undead-like episodes. Keep that in mind when evaluating the viability of these two points.

Neurotoxins—The literal definition of the word neurotoxin means nerve poison. Ever fill up on fuel? A common neurotoxin is ethanol. Imagine what’s happening in the brain when those gas fumes seep into the pores of the skin. Pretty gnarly, if I can still use the Eighties word gnarly to describe anything beyond radical. Neurotoxins can produce weird effects on the body. In some cases, depending on the agents used, they can even fool doctors into believing patients suffering neurotoxic poisoning are deceased. Kicker neurotoxins such as Alkaloids leave victims in a trancelike state with no memory, and with motor skills intact. Voodoo doctors in Haiti used Alkaloids to zombify people in the Sixties so they could get them to work on sugar plantations without resistance. Talk about forced labor, or rather, zombie labor. Will that be a double-double or do you take your coffee black?

Brain Parasites—In the simplest terms, a human ingests a parasite that makes them go all funky. This means loss of mental faculties, no cognitive awareness, and pure brain meltdown. The article mentions Toxoplasma gondii as a potential candidate to jumpstart the end of humanity. According to the numbers, a third of the world’s population already has it. The spread happens by ingesting undercooked meat containing the parasite, contaminated water, soil or vegetables, and transmission from mother to infant via pregnancy. Some of the effects after the infection include subtle behavioral or personality changes, and a number of neurological disorders, in particular schizophrenia. This type of stuff ought to keep anyone awake at night.

Ah, but I’m not done yet. Cysticercosis is my parasite of choice of which I think may usher in the zombie apocalypse. The infection occurs when a human ingests eggs of Taenia solium, pork tapeworm. This nasty biological marvel has an incubation period of months to ten years! This means if a human were to have eaten undercooked pork containing viable cysticerci, the host will not know it until its too late. Should any of the eggs make it into the muscles, it would cause muscle swelling, atrophy and fibrosis. Should any of the eggs make it into the brain, it would cause headaches, brain lesions, and seizures. Investigating this further, the CDC specifies Cysticercosis can also cause confusion, difficulty with balance, brain swelling, and even death. Sounds zombie-like to me, don’t you think?

Cracked featured three other reasons a zombie apocalypse could actually happen: The Real Rage Virus, Neurogenesis, and Nanobots. I may tackle these someday. For now, though, you can read more in the original article.