Worm that jumps from rats to slugs to human brains has invaded Southeast US

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 153 points – Worm that jumps from rats to slugs to human brains has invaded Southeast US
arstechnica.com

Multiple rats in Atlanta test positive for calamitous, rapidly spreading parasite.

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It’s been problematic here in Hawaii for some time. I personally know multiple people who have had bad cases, including my goddaughter who spent the majority of the second year of her life in the hospital because of it. Do not take rat lungworm lightly. Wash leafy greens well before eating, and keep infants from situations where they could come into contact with slugs and snails.

Damn is this another climate is too hot so all the diseases are spreading thing?

Nah, this is global capitalism blindly moving goods across the planet as quickly and cheaply as possible so all the diseases are spreading thing.

Looks like both are suspected:

"But, with climate change and the human-facilitated spread of rats and other hosts..."

Yet we have global security theatre in airports that will fine you and seize stuff to prevent diseases being spread

Just wait until fungus evolves to be perfectly fine living at 98.6°F

just wait 'till the Zombie Fungus jumps into humans...

*fuck. I just read the article and... :

Medicinal potential

Ophiocordyceps are known in the pharmaceutical world to be a medically-important group.[7] O. unilateralis fungi produce various known secondary metabolites, as well as several structurally uncharacterised substances. These natural products are reportedly being investigated as potential leads in discovery efforts toward immunomodulatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypocholesterolemic targets.[24]

In an Ophiocordyceps species within Japanese cicadas, the Ophiocordyceps replaces the symbiotic bacteria within the cicadas to help the host process sap as nutrients, unlike other related species, such as the Ophiocordyceps sinensis, which is a traditional immune booster and cancer treatment in Tibetan and Chinese culture.[25]

And here I thought releasing the cannibal ants was a bad idea...

Oh they're here, there's plenty of fungus that can live inside us.

They've been here a long time though, fungi are aaaaadaptable.

Literal brainworms. Someone test our GOP members of Congress.

Great. Just when I thought conservatives couldn't possibly get any fucking dumber, now they're getting brain worms.

The more I see news from america the less I'm surprised

That place has turned into so much off a hellhole that even the animals are following suit

This comment has major "God sends hurricanes to punish the gays" vibes

Or..."ignoring or denying a changing climate has consequences like more fires, more floods, and invasive or dangerous species moving into areas they haven't previously thrived" vibes.

Lmao the dude was calling America a hellhole, not discussing global warming.

If I were to wager, this has spread where it has because of global warming. I know malaria has been spotted in the US because it's warm enough now.

Malaria used to be endemic to the U.S. - that’s actually why the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta. The reason why malaria is back is because we’ve backslid on fighting mosquitoes.

Can we just like... step on it? Seems like a big fuss for one little worm