“This is a sexually transmitted zombie disease,” entomologist John Cooley said of the phenomenon, which can’t be transmitted to humans
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Cicadas in Chicago will soon deal with a massive health problem.
Insects in the area are expected to become infected with a sexually transmitted disease that is said to turn them into “zombies” and cause their genitals to fall off, multiple outlets reported.
According to WGN 9, a white fungus called Massospora cicadina is what affects male cicadas and causes the issues.
The fungus only targets 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas, per the outlet, and has already infected cicadas in Champaign. It is expected to affect the Chicago area next, Jim Louderman, a collections assistant at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, told WGN 9.
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Related: Billions of Cicadas Are Coming amid Rare Double Brood — See Where the Bugs Will Be This Spring
According to the University of Connecticut, the illness “turns infected cicadas into ‘zombie insects’ that disperse more fungus by causing males infected with Stage I to produce wing-flick signals as if they were females — making them highly attractive to cicadas of both sexes.”
John Cooley, an entomologist with the education institution, told NBC Chicago that the ordeal is “even stranger than science fiction,” adding, “This is a sexually transmitted zombie disease.”
“They’re completely at the mercy of the fungus,” Cooley continued. “They’re walking dead.”
He also noted that the fungus has a “hallucinatory effect” on birds that eat the infected cicadas.
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Related: Two Cicada Broods Are Emerging at Once and They ‘Will Pee in Jets’ on Everything, Study Finds
The cicadas emerging this year are Brood XIII — a group of 17-year periodical cicadas — and Brood XIX — a group of 13-year periodical cicadas.
This is the first time in 221 years that the two broods will be above ground at the same time.
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