6 Horrifying Life Forms That May Save Your Life

Flick on the television and you’ll be barraged by ads selling you a host of antibacterial, antiviral, pest controlling goops, gadgets and gizmos. Their purpose is to save you from a host of hostile germs just waiting to destroy your health with their wild parties and infectious ways.

We’re a population plagued by fears of killer flu bugs and flesh eating bacteria. We squish spiders on sight and confess to deep and abiding terror of all things that slither and creep their way through the world. The irony is that what we fear isn’t always out to get us, sometimes it can actually help keep us alive.

Viruses:

Seneca Valley Virus-001 – Cancer killer

Yeah, we know it looks like a multicolored Chia pet, but really, it’s a virus

This little guy is from the Picornaviridae viral family, making it cousin and kin to those cursed buggers that cause the common cold and polio. Unlike its infectious family though, this virus is harmless to humans and was so unobtrusive that originally it was thought to be a laboratory contaminant. As it turned out, it wasn’t a lab SNAFU at all, but something we picked up from either cows or pigs somewhere along the way, like Swine flu and Mad Cow disease only without the attitude.

After tinkering with it, (That is what science is all about right? First you find something and then you mess with it until it does something cool or blows up the planet, or possibly both) researchers figured out that while their new discovery was harmless enough to normal human cells, it turned into a tiny Terminator when it came across certain solid tumours like the ones found in small cell lung cancer; which just happens to be the most common form of lung cancer. The virus is a cancer killing machine, demonstrating a specificity 10,000 times higher than that seen in traditional chemotherapeutics without that annoying “poison your entire body just to kill the cancer” side affect that chemotherapy is known for.

GB Virus C – Helps Patients with HIV Live Longer

We have no idea why all pictures of these viruses make them look fuzzy, cute and purple.

Once known as Hepatitis G, this virus got renamed when scientists figured out that it was related to Hepatitis, but didn’t actually cause the disease. Like that one normal cousin on your crazy Uncle Jimmy’s side of the family, GB Virus C seems to have broken with family tradition.

GB Virus C doesn’t actually cause any disease researchers can find, making it pretty much the least scary pathogen on the planet. Screening has shown that it’s a relatively common infection; with 2% of screened blood donors infected with GBV-C, and 12% having markers showing they’ve had an infection in the past.

What does it do then? GBV-C’s specialty is playing havoc with a much nastier disease, HIV. For some reason no one has quite figured out yet, patients with both HIV and GBV-C live longer than those who are not infected with this helpful little virus.

Parasites:

Hookworms – Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

Hookworms, you’ll never be alone again

Writhing masses of gut worms may be more likely to invoke a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies and nausea than thoughts of medical miracles; but Hookworms may just be the next treatment for Multiple Sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders.

A preliminary test comparing MS patients with a pre-existing worm infestation with those who were “clean” showed a marked drop in relapses for those carrying the parasites. It appears that the Hookworms slow down the immune system, which is a bad thing unless you’ve got MS or another autoimmune disorder where your immune system runs faster than an auctioneer on meth.

New research is now underway, with each test subject getting 25 squirmy companions via a dermal patch and left to their own devices for 9 months or so before being flushed from their human habitat.

Flatworms – Savior of Allergy & Asthma Sufferers

This is the cure to hay fever. Bet those itching eyes and stuffed up sinuses just don’t seem so bad now.

Vampiric flatworms doing the backstroke through your bloodstream might be the cure to hay fever. Well, not literally. Flatworm infestations are dangerous and can be fatal, so science isn’t suggesting you ditch the Kleenex in favour of a colony of worms that snack on your haemoglobin.

Experiments have demonstrated that when asthmatic mice were infected with flatworms, they showed significant improvement in breathing and pulmonary inflammation levels from their wormless counterparts. Since the worms seem to have figured out a way to stop the host’s body from inflaming and attacking them, scientists are hoping to figure out how and then synthesize a chemical substitute that would work as well without the whole “fill the patient’s bloodstream with potentially lethal parasites” bit.

Creepy-Crawlies:

Israeli Deathstalker Scorpion – Helps Cure Brain Cancer

Not even cancer wants to stick around when one of these show up

With a name like “Deathstalker”, you wouldn’t expect anyone to greet this yellow arachnid with anything other than horror and girly screams of “KILL IT! Killitkillit!”

Considered to be one of the most venomous scorpions on the planet, its neurotoxin cocktail can cause extreme pain, muscle cramping and the failure of the entire nervous system.

One of the elements of this venom is a peptide called chlorotoxin. Scientists have discovered that chlortoxin actually binds itself to damaged cells and the cellular bullies that cause certain cancerous brain tumours. This binding weakens them so much that exposure to radiation can remove every trace of the tumour, something impossible to manage before. Synthetic versions of the venom are being tested, and one day cancer treatments might just involve getting shot up with scorpion venom and getting radioactive. Say, isn’t that how Spiderman got started?

Malayan Pit Viper – Minimizes Stroke Induced Brain Damage

Death from above, now with life saving venom!

Best known for its nightmarish ambush technique of dropping out of a tree and wrapping itself around its victim’s neck, this vicious viper packs a lethal bite. The venom causes extensive bleeding and can even cause the target to suffocate as it drowns in its own blood filled lungs.

The very elements that make this viper’s venom fatal to its unfortunate targets make it a boon to stroke victims. It dissolves blood clots, thins the blood and even stimulates the body’s own clot-dissolving responses. If delivered to the patients in the critical first few hours, the venom could prevent brain damage and improve recovery times.

By: Susan Hayes