Parasitic Worm Manipulates Host into Drowning by Stealing Its Genetic Code
The hairworm might not look like much, but it is a sinister parasite that steals its host’s genetic code to manipulate it into deep water, so it can reproduce and start the cycle all over again. During its larval stage, a hairworm’s first goal is to get eaten by a tadpole or a mosquito. It […]
Newly-Identified ‘Alien-Looking’ Parasitic Wasp Consumes Its Host From the Inside Out
Capitojoppa amazonica is a newly-discovered genus of parasitic wasps that stabs its victims with its giant ovipositor and sucks the blood out of them before laying its eggs inside. The terrifying insect was discovered by scientists from the University of Utah while surveying the National Reserve of Allpahuayo-Mishana in Peru. They laid large netted devices called […]
Content Creator Willingly Eats tapeworm-Infested Fish for Views
23-year-old Nichola Kratka, a self-described ‘extreme eater’, deliberately ate a fish infested with tapeworms and filmed himself doing it in the hopes of going viral on TikTok. It’s shocking what some people will do for a bit of online attention these days. Take this young Florida content creator who, after catching a tapeworm-infested bass while […]
Body-Snatching Parasite Turns Male Crabs into Females
Sacculina carcini is a common species of barnacle that not only attaches itself to various species of crab, forcefully castrating males and turning them into females willing to care for and release their eggs. Most barnacles spend their entire existence attaching themselves to underwater rocks or the bottoms of ships and just filtering food from water, […]
Insidious Parasite Causes the Tongues of Fish to Fall Off And Then Replaces Them
Cymothoa exigua, popularly known as the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod that attaches itself to the tongue of its fish host, severs circulation, causing the organ to necrose and fall off, and then becomes the new tongue. We’ve covered a bunch of terrifying parasites on Oddity Central, but few can hold a candle to […]
Japanese Ballpoint Pen Comes With a Live Parasitic Worm
The pen you’re about to see is one of those shocking products that makes people say they’ve seen it all. This Japanese souvenir actually comes with a live nematode parasite swimming inside it… Anisakis is a genus of parasitic nematodes that infect various species of fish and can cause anisakiasis – a parasitic infection of the gastrointestinal tract – in […]
Parasitic Wasp Turns Its Helpless Host Into a Bodyguard for Its Eggs
Thyrinteina leucocerae, the caterpillar of the geometer moth, is targeted as a host for a species of parasitoid wasp that can lay up to 80 eggs inside its body. The caterpillar’s reward is a job as bodyguard for the very parasites growing inside it and a slow, agonizing death. The Glyptapanteles wasp is one of […]
Man’s 30-Year Headache Allegedly Caused by Worm Stuck in His Brain
A 59-year-old Chinese man who had experienced frequent headaches and even seizures over the last 30 years is now able to lead a pain-free life after doctors extracted a 10-cm worm from his brain. The man, surnamed Zhang, first started experiencing excruciating headaches and seizures in 1989. He was playing cards with friends when his […]
Scientists Discover Frightening Species of Wasp That Turns Spiders into Zombies
The Amazon rainforest is home to many frightening creatures, like giant Anacondas, flesh-eating piranhas, just to name a couple, and now you can add a new one to the list, a species of wasp that lays its eggs on the abdomen of spiders and then hijacks their brain, essentially turning them into zombies. The previously […]
The Parasitic Fly That Eats Bumble Bees from the Inside and Forces Them to Dig Their Own Graves
As if habitat loss and pesticide exposure weren’t enough to deal with for bumble bees, they also face increasing pressure from a parasitic fly that attacks them midair, injects them with eggs with hatch larvae which proceed to eat the pollinators from the inside before finally forcing them to dig their own graves. It sounds […]
Russian Woman Has Live Worm Crawling Underneath Her Face
Doctors in Russia recently reported the unusual case of a woman who noticed that a number blemishes appeared to move around her face every few days. Those blemishes turned out to be a live parasitic worm crawling under her skin. The unnamed woman first noticed a small bump under her left eye, but didn’t pay […]
Flight of the Living Dead – The Tiny Fly That Turns Bees into Zombies
Human zombies might be a figment of the imagination, but ‘zombie bees’ actually exist. They are ‘created’ when regular honeybees get infested with a particular type of parasite. The bees begin to display highly erratic and bizarre behavior that’s very zombie-like. These infested bees were first discovered in 2008 in California by John Hafernik, a […]