Killer Fungus Among Us

I was going through my Twitter feed the other day and I came across an article that was quite disturbing. The picture alone about gave me the heeby geebies. I mean I'm serious, this was the picture of nightmares. What it showed was a tarantula that had been infected by a fungus. The fungus, called Cordyceps, infects the host and eventually replaces the host tissue with its own.

Fortunately, this stuff only attacks insects or arthropods. It would be horrible if this stuff could infect a person or the family pet.

The article that I read also stated that there are some species of the fungus that have "...mind-control capabilities, convincing the host to travel to a place where the fungus will find optimal growth conditions before the host dies." WHAT!? Yep I double checked and that is what the article said. I found a site that had a video showing the infection process in an ant. They don't come out and say "mind-control" but it seems to indicate that it drives the ant to some degree. (Click here for the video It's at the bottom)

From what I've read, this stuff isn't out to get us humans yet.... But man the thought is the stuff horror stories are made of.

I leave you with the picture that sent me scouting out this crazy fungus. Also you can click here to go to Wikipedia to read more about this killer fungus.

-Red

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