Howloween Spooktacular 2024: Check Your Meat

Lauren and JJ welcome veterinary neurologist Dr. Jill Narak to the podcast to discuss brain-eating and brain-hijacking (zombie!) diseases.

Resources:

• IMDB entry for The Return of the Living Dead (1985), directed by Dan O'Bannon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/
• Behavior-altering parasites, Wikipedia, accessed 10/26/24: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite
• Naegleria fowleri infection, Centers for Disease Control, accessed 10/26/24: https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/about/index.html
• Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, accessed 10/26/24: https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/about/index.html
• Echinococcosis, Centers for Disease Control, accessed 10/26/24: https://www.cdc.gov/naegleria/about/index.html
• Siyadatpanah, A., et al. Cerebral cystic echinococcosis (2020). Case reports in infectious diseases. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7066420/
• Heyward, G. The zombie fungus from 'The Last of Us' is real - but not nearly as deadly (2023), NPR, last accessed 10/26/24: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/30/1151868673/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-zombie-fungus-real#
• Flegr, J. Effects of Toxoplasma on human behavior (2007). Schizophrenia bulletin, 33(3): 757-760. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2526142/
• Adebiyi, O. E., et al. Neurocognitive domains and neuropathological changes in experimental infection with Trypanosoma brucei brucei in Wister rats (2021). Heliyon, 7(11). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8571699/
• Alvarado-Esquivel. Toxocara infection in psychiatric inpatients: A case control seroprevalence study (2013). PLoS One, 8(4). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3633879/
• Horsehair worm. The Wildlife Trusts, accessed 10/26/24. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/marine/worms/horsehair-worm#
• Gasque, S. N., et al. Where the baculoviruses lead, the caterpillars follow: baculovirus-induced alterations in caterpillar behavior (2019). Current opinion in insect science, 33: 30-36. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214574518300841#
• Clinical Overview of Rabies, Centers for Disease Control, accessed 10/26/24: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html
• Zombie, Wikipedia, accessed 10/26/24: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

Special Guest: Jill Narak.