It's called 'Bite Me with Dr. Mike' and it's so cool!
This dude (Dr. Mike) is a freakin' nutjob. A former motorcycle mechanic, he always had the travel bug (no pun intended) and decided to study virology - getting his PhD in that as well as molecular biology at Oxford University.
Now he's got his own show on the Travel Channel - which involves him traversing the globe, hunting down strange bugs, parasites, arachnids, and basically anything that bites - hence the title.
The show just started on June 24th, I believe.
I watched the first one, where he goes to Brazil.
He first searches for - and finds - fire ants.
Straightaway he gets bit (on purpose!) and ends up at some rinky dink hospital that is practically in the jungle with an anaphylactic reaction. Nice.
And that's in the first five minutes.
Here are some of the show-stoppers we meet:
The Candiru - the most feared fish in the Amazon River, even moreso than Pirhana.
Unfortunately, this slippery little sucker slides into any open orafice (most likely the penis!) and they have to be surgically removed.
Say it with me now folks - Ouch.
Vampire bats can carry rabies, of course. But the whole bloodsucking thing is equally as disturbing, right?
Brazillian Wandering Spider
(On the show, this guy was just hanging around on the sidewalks of the slums in Rio.)
Bullet Ants. Apparently the most painful sting of any insect. Thirty times as powerful as a wasp.
So. Not. Cool.
Schistosomes...parasitic worms that, from my understanding, burrow into the skin and lay eggs, causing a heapin' handful of other issues.
Man, I should have put this post on my horror blog. Seriously.
The lovely yet deadly Pirhana.
Nasty, nasty.
Nasty, nasty.
The common Mosquito - this one carries the nasty Dengue fever, otherwise known as 'Breakbone Fever'.
the Assassin Bug - some varieties of this bug are known for biting humans in their sleep, in places such as the eyelids and lips. Again, nice.
Check it out!
