Here up in Quebec, people bitch about cyanobacteria in lakes and stuff. Down in the states, you have motherfucking killer amoebas. Great, innit.
Wow. Jeez, that’s freaky. Remind me to stay away from lakes. o_0
There was an episode of House discussing this. We talked about it a bit in my parasitology class way back when. It is apparently one of the most painful infections you can possibly imagine. People really bang their heads against the wall to relieve the pain. You get infected by ducking your head in hot water in areas where it grows. It digs through the piece of skull separating your nasal cavity from your brain and from there you’re fucked. It has a 90%+ kill rate. The treatment is also almost as bad as the disease. Typically you get these suckers in hot springs. They’re very rare tho.
I wonder what the world-wide death rate is; according to that article it was discovered in Australia, so it made me wonder if it is common in all water areas, or just in specific regions? I am thinking of Africa and India here for example- especially India being one of the most populated countries in the world (the most populated yet?). As stated by Sin and the Article again, it is very rare, I would imagine a higher population is more likely to expose themselves more often to this.
Which such a high fatality rate it also makes me wonder why more research into it has not been done, or at least released to the non-academic public.
Where is your global warming now? :3
:kissy:
They dont put more research into it because they think that since it is so rare then it will be harder for people to get it and they dont need to fool with it now. Its all about what they think is more important. Those environmentally concerned bastards.
Bolt is right in saying that its not getting funding because its not really an important disease. Research is mostly publically funded so a given country has no reason to really research stuff that doesn’t have any impact whatsoever on its populace. However, Bolt is STILL an idiot as it has nothing to do with the environment.
Most disgusting thing I read about in biology was about plasmodial slime molds and nematodes. I’m never taking microbiology because I’d turn into Monk. >_<
Tril: but round worms are AWESOME!!! You need to hear some more about tapeworms imo. Hell, all of parasitology is such that you don’t need to study for the exam because its shit you don’t forget.
I’ve got issues with worms. I was eating while watching that House episode with the where he pulls a tapeworm out of a girl’s gut without warning. Fuck me.
A unit of my highschool biology classes was about fun parasites and other worms that could inhabit your body. As you say, we all aced that test.
Especially since most of the critters we studied were locals. That was some scary shit.
The reason we don’t have Brain Eating Amoebas at RPGClassics? They all starved to death! OHHHH!!! PWNNNDDD!!! high fives all around
I read the last sentence immediately after the first one. Worm sex 
No, on first thought, ew.
Some worms have sex with themselves. Its called selfing.
I knew that some worms had sex with themselves, but didn’t know it was called that. Thats cool, wierd, and creepy all at the same time.
Yeah, like that’s really pushing the envelope of human activities
I read an article in National Geographic about parasites. One of them was this round worm you get by walking barefoot through farm land where the animals are infected with it. This was in Africa so the only treatment most people had was to wait until the worm grew to adulthood so they could see it underneath the skin. Then they’d make a small cut in the leg, pull out the head and slowly wind it out onto a stick. The bundles looked like a rolled up winter sock
What you’re describing Lex, is a mix of a couple different kinds of parasites. Are you sure the article was only talking about 1?
When can I transfer to my robot body, already?
Parasites can mix together to form one whole? I didn’t know that. It also seems that if they were to bond together or something, could they like separate themselves again or be separated?
Oh man, please tell me you saw that episode of House with the huge tapeworm.
Also, freezing Connecticut water wins. Not so sure about D.C. though.