Uncovering the Mystery

Do you think that the monsters from the Wachowskis' imagination are just fiction? Think again. This video will introduce you to even more horrifying creatures that exist in real life. Discover the parasite that preys on people with poor eyesight, which would gladly eat your brain, and most importantly, what we should fear more than any monster from a horror movie.

In Sydney, 1998, over 4.5 million people were at risk of contracting a serious disease. Authorities urgently advised people to minimize contact with the city's running water due to monsters coming from the sewers known as cryptosporidium. If accidentally swallowed, it could cause fever and diarrhea within a week, and in cases of weak immunity, chronic diarrhea leading to death from dehydration, losing up to 25 liters of fluid per day. Even those who recover quickly are potentially dangerous to society as they can continue to carry the parasite and pass on the infection. Boiling drinking water can prevent infection.

However, there is another water-dwelling monster that is much harder to avoid - Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that can easily devour your brain. It begins with an innocent country trip where you inhale the parasite while swimming in a lake or river, and it enters your body unnoticed. You may remain oblivious for a few days, but the infection will cause symptoms such as fever, headache, and vomiting. The parasite then travels through the nose to the brain, causing primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is often fatal. Sadly, there is no known cure for PAM, and it is important to avoid swimming in warm freshwater, especially during summer months when the amoeba is most active.

The irreversible process of transmitting information is already activated in your body once your neurons release various chemicals, including acetylcholine. Evolution has gifted amoebas with the ability to recognize acetylcholine, and when they get on the nasal mucosa, it helps them quickly travel to the brain through the olfactory nerve. Unfortunately for humans, this is where the amoeba finds its heaven on earth. It's warm and wet inside the human head, just like the lakes where the amoeba thrives. However, there are no familiar food sources for the parasite to consume, so it starts feeding on the brain. Within a few hours, the victim begins vomiting and having convulsions, and even emptying the stomach doesn't bring relief. An unbearable headache is followed by fits of delirium, or even a coma.

The victim's brain swells, and then it stops spitting in the skull, leading to negleriasis. The mortality rate from this disease is about 97%, and the only chance of survival depends on early diagnosis by doctors. Although this sounds impressive, even more detestable intruders exist that sometimes sweep into our lives so blatantly that it's hard to believe. Some of them aim to feast on your eyeballs. If an Acanthamoeba comes into contact with your cornea, it instantly starts invading your eye through abrasions, resulting in white patches on the eye surface.

Treatment involves scraping the corneal epithelium using a special surgical blade to remove the dead cells. However, there is no general anesthesia, and acting promptly is crucial; otherwise, one may go completely blind. Interestingly, wearing contact lenses statistically leads to 90% of patients catching this illness. If this news makes you want to get rid of your contacts, hold off because other parasites can penetrate your body through perfectly healthy skin, such as the female Dracunculus worms, also known as roundworms. These worms are found in wet places like swamps, where they develop in copepods. If a human walks in these areas, there's a good chance they'll pick up the infection, and the parasite larvae can remain on the body for a long time and get inside through the pores. Unfortunately, the victim may have no idea what's going on for a whole.

For about a year, a worm can travel throughout your body before settling in your subcutaneous tissue. Soon, an ulcer will form on one of your limbs, with a worm protruding from the center. The extraction process for the worm still relies on an ancient Egyptian method dating back to the mid-second millennium BC, which involves rolling the slowly emerging parasite onto a long thin stick. This procedure can take several weeks to ensure that the worm doesn't split in half and release toxic fluid into the wound. If you're afraid of experiencing this nightmare, then it's best to avoid walking around swamps.

Unfortunately, there's no way to protect yourself from mosquito bites, which can transmit plasmodium falciparum, the agent of malignant malaria. In 2020, doctors reported 241 million cases of infection. The unicellular parasite enters the human body through the mosquito's saliva and goes straight to the liver, where it throws a blood feast. Plasmodium falciparum invades erythrocytes and tears them apart, then proceeds to gobble them up. It takes only 60 seconds for the parasite to get ready and attack a new cell. Debris from the infected red blood cells ends up in different organs, such as the heart, liver, and even the brain. This can lead to the most severe form of the disease, called cerebral malaria, with a mortality rate of nearly 90 percent. In this case, the human dies painfully from hypoxia, which means oxygen starvation, as the infected cells deprive the brain of air. Cerebral malaria is almost impossible to cure, and the few survivors often live with neurological disorders for the rest of their lives.

In addition to causing physical symptoms, malaria can also lead to behavioral issues and intellectual disabilities. While the disease is most commonly found in African countries, it has also been known to spread to cooler regions throughout history, such as during the construction of the Rideau Canal in Canada in the 1820s. With the planet's rapidly changing climate, there's no telling where this resilient parasite may spread to next. Unfortunately, despite ongoing efforts, scientists and doctors have not made any significant progress in developing new and effective treatments for malaria since 2014. This is a cause for concern since malaria remains a major health threat. We are currently facing a horror story of unknown proportions, and it's difficult to predict what dangers are lurking in the seemingly tranquil scenery. What parasites do you find the most haunting and terrifying?