Zombie Fish Worm (Project Noah)

The Diphyllobothrium fervio, commonly known as the "Zombie Fish Worm" or the "Death Worm from the deep" is a new, undiscovered species of fish tapeworm. It was first discovered in the Pacific Ocean by scientists in late 2016. While it infects fish and other aquatic mammals, they are known to be asymptomatic carriers as they do not carry the symptoms. However, the parasite affects humans who consume undercooked fish. From there, the parasite works to hijack the nervous system, making the human body a "puppet" or a "slave" hence the term "zombie." It is the direct cause of the Zombie Fish Worm Outbreak of 2017 and has been declared by both the CDC and WHO as the worst pandemic in mankind's history.

Morphology and Physiology
The Zombie Fish Worm's appearance is similar to other tapeworm species, such as the Taenia and the Diphyllobotrium latum. It, like its relatives, is composed of a head with a scolex and sucker, and a series of proglottids. The proglottids are divided into the immature segment, the mature segment, and the gravid segments. The immature segment is the portion that contains underdeveloped gonads, the mature segment contains the testes and the ovary, and the gravid segments contain the eggs which are ready for hatching.

What differentiates it from D. latum which only parasitizes on freshwater fish; D. fervio parasitizes on seawater fish. Known fish hosts include the tuna, mackerel, and the salmon. Scientists have postulated that it resides in the deep waters of the world's oceans.

Life Cycle
The life cycle of the Zombie Fish Worm is similar to the D. latum. The figure below is the life cycle of D. latum and can be used as a reference on how the Zombie Fish Worm spreads.
 * 1) Unembryonated Eggs are passed in the feces.
 * 2) Once outside into the water environment, the eggs are embryonated.
 * 3) The eggs hatch into a coracidia and are subsequently ingested by crustaceans such as cocepods and brine shrimps.
 * 4) The coracidia transforms into procercoid larva within the digestive system of the crustacean.
 * 5) Infected crustacean ingested by small fish where the procercoid larva becomes the plerocercoid larva.
 * 6) Small fish is ingested by larger predatory fish.
 * 7) Undercooked predatory fish (tuna, mackerel, salmon) is ingested by a human. This is the mode of infection. The portal of entry is the mouth.
 * 8) Once in the human digestive tract, the plerocercoid larva growns into an adult. The adult latches in the small intestine using its scolex. From there it would grow segments of proglottids. Mature proglottids become the gravid proglottids. The gravid proglottids are then shed in the feces, releasing the unfertilized eggs to the outside aquatic environment, thus repeating the cycle.
 * 9) (NOTE: Refer to Pathology subsection in the Diagonosis header).

Pathology
The mature worm can travel from the small intestine to the bloodstream via the hepatic portal veins. From there, it would travel to the brain where it would then hijack the body's motor functions. The eggs from the brain, including the eggs that traveled the bloodstream in the small intestine, would be carried on the human's salivary glands. This explains why the Infected are positive for Zombie Fish Worm eggs in their saliva.

Symptoms
TBA

Treatment
There is no known treatment for this parasite. Deworming medicine, such as Nicolsamide and Praziquantel, has only a slight margin of success. Even then, even if the worm has been killed by deworming medicine, there is some possibility that the unembryonated eggs will remain in the human body.

For those homidical aggressive infected, destroying the brain or severing the spinal cord will stop the parasite from functioning as it has no live host to infect.

Prevention
Fish must be thoroughly inspected for the worms and properly cooked by frying, boiling, roasting, and well-done grilling. Consumption of raw or undercooked fish must be discouraged.

If a person is showing signs of aggression, people who are not infected must vacate the area and isolate, and if possible restrain, the infected in a room. The authorities must be informed for the proper humane termination of the infected. Dead bodies of fish and humans suspected to be infected with the Zombie Fish Worm must be burned to prevent further spread.