This is believed to be the only example of a parasite the destroys a host organ then functionally replaces it.Ĭhris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. The parasite takes pity on you and actually replaces your tongue and does what your tongue once did!įor fish, this bizarre nightmare is a reality – the parasite is an isopod named Cymothoa exigua, the tongue-eating louse. Then, after snuggling into its new home, it feeds and grows by sucking the blood out of your tongue. Imagine a parasite that enters your body through your respiratory openings before latching onto the base of your tongue. Having a Baloney Detection Kit handy is a good way to keep these parasites at bay.Īctually there may well be at least one ‘real’ ‘zombifying parasite’ out there affecting mammals (including humans) – check out this fascinating conversation with Robert Sapolsky on ‘Toxoplasmosis and Free Will’ from Edge.īut for me there is one parasite scenario that ‘out freaks’ all others: With the animal kingdom seemingly rife with ‘zombifying parasites’ (see the slide-show at Discover Magazine) it makes one wonder, are there strange parasites controlling what we do, that we don’t know about? Maybe that’s how we should view self-destructive memes like suicide bombing and the acceptance of quackery – as parasites of the mind.
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