The 7 Most Horrifying Parasites on the Planet

Cracked.com ^ | 3/30/09 | Matthew Hayden

[Slings and Arrows]

As soon as your doctor says you've got parasites in your body, you don't need to hear any more details. They're all horrible, right? How can it get worse than little tiny worms or something feeding on your insides?

Actually, it can get way, way worse. As it turns out, there's nothing in nature more creative than a parasite. And we don't mean that in a good way. For instance...

[Slings and Arrows]

Stoat, I have to disagree. Cordyceps fungus is so nasty that it makes H. P. Lovecraft's works look like fluffy bunny stories.

[Stoat]

I agree that it is indeed icky...I suppose I tend to be affected more by the incidence of pain and trauma that affect humans rather than insects and animals....granted the visuals are shocking but they're insects after all.  Great video that you posted BTW....loved the way that the healthy ants knew what to do in order to protect the colony.  I wish that Socialists were that smart:

London suffering from shocking rise in rare 'Victorian' diseases

Socialists aren't even smart enough to keep immigration at a sane level, and so the entire 'colony' suffers and is placed at extreme risk.  But then again we aren't so very different with the various immigration threats that we face here in the USA.

[neb52]

Is that link safe to click on, while eating?

[Diogenesis]

[BuffaloJack]

Parasites? And I thought this was going to be a thread about socialists.

[erman]

[Thrownatbirth]

Aunt Zeituni

[JoJo Gunn]

In all fairness, the spineless Republicans are no better.

[metmom]

The worst parasites on the planet?

Welfare recipients and illegals.....

[metmom]

WARNING: Strong language, nightmare fuel, possibility of a crevo thread breaking out.

Judging by the comments, that last seems like a very slim possibility.

[Just mythoughts]

Welfare recipients and illegals.....

Especially those most fit to survive off welfare using that highly developed intellectual scientific methodology.

[Slings and Arrows]

It was, IMO, a real possibility - some people like to use these critters as the centerpiece of a “How could a benevolent G-d do X?” argument. Glad it didn’t happen, though.

[Slings and Arrows]

It was, IMO, a real possibility - some people like to use these critters as the centerpiece of a “How could a benevolent G-d do X?” argument. Glad it didn’t happen, though.

[Slings and Arrows]

If you have to ask, the answer is no.

[Desdemona]

What, no mention of George Soros?

[Slings and Arrows]

Interesting ideas there, which take a longer answer than I can give from a cell phone. Short answer is that it’s the idea of Cordyceps that I find horrifying, even though it can’t affect higher species.

[a fool in paradise]

[Slings and Arrows]

That picture is really disturbing.

[a fool in paradise]

What’s more disturbing is he’s gotten even closer to being sworn into the Senate.

[AFreeBird]

BINGO!! We have a winner.

We're missing ZerØ though.