SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Hawaii Warns Tourists of Parasitic Worm that can Burrow into Human Brains:
Hawaii's health department has released fresh warnings about a parasitic worm that can infest human brains after officials confirmed that three more visitors to the state picked up the infection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed three new cases in unrelated adults visiting Hawaii Island from the US mainland, the health department announced. The latest known victims—who became infected at different times—bring the state's 2018 case total to 10 and the 2019 total to five.
While there were 17 confirmed cases in 2017, the state counted only two cases total in the prior decade. The new case counts indicate a sustained boom in the parasite's population and spread.
The parasitic worm in these cases is the rat lungworm, aka Angiostrongylus cantonensis. As its common name suggests, the wandering worm primarily takes up residence in rats' lungs, where female worms lay their eggs. Young worms leave the nest early to find their own windy homes, though. Larvae get coughed up into rats' throats then swallowed. The hosting rat eventually poops out the young parasites, which then get gobbled up by feces-feasting snails and slugs (intermediate hosts). When other rodents come along and eat those infected mollusks, the prepubescent parasites migrate to the rats' brains to mature before settling into the lungs and reproducing. The cycle then starts again.
Eww, that sounds gross! So, what happens if I should, by chance, get infected?
[...] In humans, young worms make their way to the brain as they would in a rat. But the rambling invaders rarely survive long enough to make it to their final destination in the lungs. Instead, they usually die somewhere in the central nervous system. In some cases, the infection is symptomless and resolves on its own. In others, the worm meanders around the brain, and its presence, movement, and death in the central nervous system all contribute to symptoms. Those can vary wildly but sometimes include headaches, neck stiffness, tingling or pain, low-grade fever, nausea, and vomiting. In severe cases, the infection can lead to nerve damage, paralysis, coma, and even death.
In short: be sure to clean all produce thoroughly and avoid eating any slugs.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 31 2019, @09:50AM (2 children)
Life imitates art, once again.
Walking alone through the corridors of $BASENAME, you skim the security reports on recent attacks by the horrific native "mind worms." Giant swarms, or "boils," of these mottled 10cm nightmares have wriggled out of the fungal beds of late, and now threaten to overwhelm base perimeters in several sectors. Victims are paralyzed with psi-induced terror, and then experience an unimaginably excruciating death as the worms burrow into the brain to implant their ravenous larvae.
Only the most disciplined security squads can overcome their fear long enough to trigger the flame guns which can keep the worms at bay. Clearly you will have to tend carefully to the morale of the troops.
-- Sid Meier's ALPHA CENTAURI
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday May 31 2019, @04:23PM (1 child)
You got that backwards. Art imitates Life. Unless for some reason, you're saying that a worm saw someone playing Sid Meier's Alpha Cenaturi, and decided/evolved to infect someone's brain as a result.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 01 2019, @12:17PM
Not me. FYI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imitating_art [wikipedia.org]