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Well the Guinea worm does force humans to get into water to complete the parasitic cycle. But it's also on track to be fully eradicated. I think a parasite aff
by alexey-salmin 2y ago
Well the Guinea worm does force humans to get into water to complete the parasitic cycle. But it's also on track to be fully eradicated.
I think a parasite affecting human behavior in a substantial way is risking detection and elimination. So unlike with mantises this decreases the chance of survival, unless you paint a zombie-apocalypse kind of scenario.
A successful human parasite has to alter the host behavior in a very subtle way. This could be happening even now and we wouldn't know. There's some evidence this is the case with toxoplasma increasing affection towards cats.
- dotancohen 2y agoStar Trek actually did an episode which addresses such a parasite. The episode was one of several episodes banned in a few places, I think for showing how the uninfected humans had to eradicate the infected humans violently.
- nilamo 2y agoStar Trek did a whole Wrath of Khan that addresses such a parasite :p
- rstuart4133 2y ago> Well the Guinea worm does force humans to get into water to complete the parasitic cycle. How they do this [0]: - Humans typically get infected when they unintentionally ingest copepods while drinking water. - During digestion the copepods die, releasing the D. medinensis larvae. The larvae exit the digestive tract by penetrating the stomach and intestine - About a year after the initial infection, the female migrates to the skin, forms an ulcer, and emerges. - Upon reaching its destination, the worm forms a fluid-filled blister under the skin.[5] Over 1–3 days, the blister grows larger, begins to cause severe burning pain - When the wound touches fresh water, the female spews a milky-white substance containing hundreds of thousands of larvae into the water. - The larvae are eaten by copepods, and after two to three weeks of development, they are infectious to humans again. [0] All of the above was copy & pasted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculiasis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculiasis
- praptak 2y agoPart of the eradication effort was hacking this mechanism by convincing humans to use a closed container of water when this happens. The contaminated water can then be safely disposed thus breaking the cycle.
- ithkuil 2y agoHumans routinely have very weird behaviours and while often we classify them as illness who knows how many of those we just call "a political view".
- HKH2 2y agoSSRIs, birth pills and other 'harmless' drugs modify behaviour too.
- ithkuil 2y agoFwiw food and lack thereof modifies behaviour too.
- galleywest200 2y agoIf I fail to eat regularly for about 3 days I sink into a deep funk which takes a few days of regular eating to come out of. I used to/have a problem where I just don't have the energy to eat due to being hungry and its a viscious cycle.
- unfitted2545 2y agoThis idea has grown on me a lot after watching Sam Harris’ 2013 Ted Talk, on deconstructing religion, logic and morality: https://youtu.be/qn3ITqtGzQ8 https://youtu.be/qn3ITqtGzQ8
- zbyforgotp 2y agoOr maybe it could alter the behaviour in a positve way: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasites_Lost https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasites_Lost
- DonHopkins 2y ago>But it's also on track to be fully eradicated. Thanks to Jimmy Carter! (And also a guy named Donald Hopkins, who's not me.) https://www.cartercenter.org/about/experts/donald_hopkins.html https://www.cartercenter.org/about/experts/donald_hopkins.ht...