Stories of people who have contracted and survived rare and deadly diseases, infections, or parasites.
Genre: Documentary
Cast:Justin Peed , Jason Done , Dan Riskin , Susan Kolb , Cindy Chase , Tony Dadika , Nastasha Strang , Stavros Nikolaos Leodis , Esin Varan , Kevin Kazacos , Daniel Caplivsky , Elmer Tu , Stasi Schaeffer , Marc Williams , Christopher Spurrier , Kimberly Riehle , Tristan Beck , Abigail Murphy
These killers lie dormant, waiting for the right time to strike. These stealthy predators get inside their hosts, yet work on very different timetables. Dangerous and often hard to detect, this is the story of the war on Sleeper Cell Parasites.
Across the US, doctors and scientists are fighting a war against some of natures deadliest creatures - parasites. Doctors race against time to unlock the mystery of the worst parasitic outbreaks in the history of the United States.
Bed bug infestations, maggots growing in a man's scalp, and parasitic worms breeding in the human lungs. Sex Maniacs explores the different strategies parasites use to reproduce.
A parasite that's intent on eating a teen's cornea, a runner contracts a tick-born illness, and a parasitic worm ravages a 72 year-old man's bowels. Masters of Disguise examines the various ways parasites use disguise and deception to trick their victims.
In Virginia a young woman is attacked by an invincible brain eating monster that threatens to take her life. A Midwestern farmer does battle with a beast that cannot be killed and a New Yorker is infected with the deadliest parasite on the planet.
In Virginia a vicious parasite is on the rampage, its next victim is an innocent child. In Michigan a brutal killer has invaded a traveler's blood, and a summer's day at a Florida lake turns into a nightmare when a ruthless monster attacks a boy's brain.
A fit and active dance instructor is suddenly stopped in her tracks by unbearable abdominal pain and a mysterious mass in her colon that is revealed to contain decaying worms. And a scientist finds worms from Africa living under his skin and in his eyes.
An invisible attacker ravages a 4th grade teacher from the inside out. A ticking time bomb threatens to end a young dancer's career.
A nine year old hockey prodigy is attacked by a brain eating monster and brought to the brink of death. A computer programmer from Virginia loses control of his mind when his body is invaded by the deadliest parasite on earth.
A three year old begins having extreme bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, her parents think she just has a stomach flu. But when she loses a third of her body weight in only a few days, they are left desperate and helpless.
A seemingly innocent cat scratch leaves a veterinary volunteer with a raised and growing wound on her chest. When it begins to move, she's horrified by the thought of a monster growing inside. And, A college student's arm begins oozing a strange liquid.
An Iraq war veteran wakes in the middle of the night with an uncontrollable urge to relieve himself, and he heads for the bathroom. The foot-long worm he pulls from inside him will change his life forever.
An 8 year old girl begins having daily stomach cramps, when the stomach pains become unbearable, a stool sample reveals that she's become a living refuge for a host of some of some of the most common parasites in nature.
A California man investigates hookworms as a way to cure his allergies, but there is just one problem no lab is willing to sell him any. You won't believe his radical action taken and the effect it has. Then an unseen bloodsucker gets into a writer's nose
After a biopsy of her intestine, doctors find thousands of silent monsters living in a mother's tissue, but she's never left the country. Three stories of parasitic infection with one thing in common. They're all native to America!
A 45 year old factory worker begins to go blind. Doctors suspect tuberculosis, until they realize he's infected with a deadly parasitic killer. Then, a local restaurant triggers a massive outbreak involving a particularly sinister parasite.
A toddler who is started eating cat food is diagnosed with toxacara. A man suffers complications from diverticulitis when ESBL E. coli escape through his perforated colon. A New Mexico man is infected with bubonic plague.
A young boy's nose is invaded by a bacterium after swimming in a lake; A model's breast implant become infected with aspergillus niger; A young woman's lungs are infected with a fungus.
A traveler to South America picks up a case of cutaneous leishmaniasis; A man contracts rat bite fever from his pet rat; A young boy with valley fever.
An ovarian teratoma causes a woman to hallucinate and exhibit strange behavior; A young boy is infected with a flu virus that attacks his muscles causing the tissue to break down; A man having gastrointestinal problems is suffering from blastocystis hominis parasite.
A teenager's hand is infected by a bacterium from her family's aquarium; A man aspirates the pull tab from a soft drink can; A young man has meningitis from rat lung-worms that have traveled to his brain.
A pregnant teacher is blindsided by excruciating bouts of diarrhea, and to her horror she soon finds blood in the toilet. Can doctors find the invader, and save her baby's life before it's too late? Then, a truck driver nearly goes blind from a parasite.
A pregnant woman goes into a coma when she is infected with acinetobacter baumannii; A young woman has roundworms living in her lungs; A 15-year-old girl suffering for weeks from headaches is later found to have had rabies.
An infant sufferers sever throat damage after swallowing a button battery; A young woman's brain has been infected with strep virus; A woman picks up dengue fever on a vacation.
A toddler is infected with meningococcal disease caused by a bacterium; After surgery for an abdominal tumor, doctors accidentally leave a 13-inch retractor inside a patient; A seven-year-old boy is infected with a brain amoeba.
A young art student has a clogged jugular vein causing Lemierre's syndrome; A young woman suffers from Lyme disease and babesiosis; A woman has recurring infections after a sponge is left behind from a previous biopsy.
A seven-year-old girl suffers from mysterious seizures and painful rashes and winds up in a deadly coma. A a yoga-loving college graduate's health spirals viciously out of control when "the flu" turns out to be a flesh-eating monster.
A teenaged ballerina descends into a downward spiral of debilitating migraines and incapacitating muscle failures. A young missionary who's dedicated to religion experiences an unholy revelation that literally makes his skin crawl.
A bank manager contracts Legionnaire's Disease; A young girl is suspected of having rabies; A college student is infected with an amoeba in his eye.
A mother-of-four struggles with a mysterious lump that emerges on the neck of her two-year-old daughter. But as doctors quarantine her, it's a race against time to save her life.
A small-town boy's summer fun is cut short by an apparent flu that suddenly transforms into a life-threatening condition. An extreme case of asthma strikes a former beauty queen.
Three mothers, each with a child to love; each on the brink of losing them. A young Peace Corps volunteer gets the assignment of her dreams in a remote village in West Africa But, her dreams become a nightmare when a deadly organism strikes her.
Three vibrant people, each with strong family bonds, each ripped apart by an insidious monster. A teenager dodges death when he survives getting sucked into a tornado. When his trauma wounds mysteriously don't heal, doctors discover a hideous infection.
Three families enjoy the bounties of nature, and all of them suffer its wrath. A young girl's love of swimming comes back to haunt her when she develops severe headaches, nausea, and a bizarre rash all over her body. The cause sends everyone reeling.
It's Christmas, and a young globe-trotting couple returns home for some holiday cheer only to discover some sly stowaways that. bite, suck and consume the flesh. A family man discovers that something is eating his heart out, literally.
Three deadly illnesses darken the future of three young boys. In Illinois, a mother thinks her newborn son has something wrong with his eyes. When doctors analyze the boy further, they discover something is eating his eyes and brain. Can he be saved?
3 women living in vastly different locales have one thing in common: they've become unwitting hosts to baffling and deadly terrors. A teenage girl thinks she might be losing her mind, but she soon realized has a life threatening inflammation of the brain.
A war veteran, a PhD scientist, and a newborn, all clinging to life by a string. In Tennessee, new parents are horrified when a deadly infection pushes their baby daughter to the brink of death.
A Massachusetts EMT is shattered by a routine emergency call when she discovers that the victim is her son. A self-described tough guy in New Jersey is reduced to tears when something sinister starts to rip apart his intestines.
Disaster befalls three individuals who are suddenly living their worst nightmares. A contractor suffers a bump on his head while he is working, but days later, he finds himself in the ICU fighting for his life with something in his brain.
The lives of three young people are suddenly turned upside down. In South Dakota, what begins as a common sore throat quickly spirals out of control for a 15 year old girl, as a rare and dangerous affliction leaves her clinging to life.
A war veteran, a PhD scientist, and a newborn, all clinging to life by a string. In Tennessee, new parents are horrified when a deadly infection pushes their baby daughter to the brink of death.
Christmas time is here, and these three victims each receive a monstrous gift. In Florida, woman is out Christmas shopping when she suddenly feels a stabbing pain in her eye so severe that she believes she sees shadows of worms in her eye.
Trouble is lurking in the bodies of three different women. In rural Washington State, a teenager's shoulder pain leads her to being quarantined in a matter of days. If doctors can't determine what's attacking her, she'll die.
Three lively people suddenly come face to face with their own mortality. In Virginia, a teen suffers seizures and sudden blindness, when doctors discover her brain is under attack.
Three healthy people with a love of the outdoors are struck down by a deadly menace that lurks inside them. In Ohio, a young boy wastes away in front of his parents' eyes as a mysterious infection overtakes his body.
A four-year-old is drowning in his own mucus; the wound on a seven-year-old's knee has a vile cause; a college student has bizarre dreams before being hospitalized.
The lives of three families are twisted in knots. A mysterious infection brings a tough ultra-marathoner to his knees. A teenager contracts one of the most feared diseases on the planet. And a woman's brain is practically set on fire.
A man's leg is torn apart by an infection; a rare brain infection pushes a 7-year-old girl towards suicide; another infection lands a woman in the hospital.
A couple's home turns into a living nightmare; an insidious creature takes a man's spleen; a domestic pet takes a boy to the edge of death.
A baby boy faces near death from a common household item; a parasite eats a man's lungs; a female boxer fights for her life.
A 2-year-old girl writhes in pain and is near death; a neuro-psychiatrist suffers multi-organ failure; a woman's life hangs by a thread.
A mysterious infection eats a college student's eyeball; a 6-month-old is paralyzed in 24 hours; a mother giving birth gets a nasty surprise.
In California, a mysterious infection is shutting down a teenager's lungs; in Hawaii, a personal trainer is afflicted with nerve pain when something attacks her body; and in Michigan, a parasite is eating the blood of a health worker.
A cut on his knee makes a teenager feverish and fatigued; a couple move into their new home in New Mexico to rashes, breathing difficulties, and memory loss; and in Hawaii, worms are destroying an 8-year-old's retinas.
A Christmas baby gets a brain infection in utero; a woman suffers an infection during Hanukkah; and seizures ruin a schoolteacher's Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Revisiting: a teenage boy with a grill bristle in his intestines (A Deadly Swim); a teenage boy with leprosy (Help. My Son is a Leper); and a teenage girl whose lungs are afflicted with Cryptococcus gattii fungi (My Body Is Rotting).
A baby falls mysteriously ill and struggles to breathe; a man has something living in an embarrassing place; a woman's weight gain confounds experts.
A mysterious infection brings a tough football player to his knees. To her horror, a stay-at-home mom has parasites devouring her eyeball. And a marina dock master is attacked by sea creatures!
A family's cruise ship vacation turns into a living nightmare when their two year old swallows a sinister monster. A mother of two is plagued with a mysterious infection. Deadly parasites hijack the brain of a six-year-old boy.
Monsters can hijack our bodies in any number of ways. A man breaks out in a mysterious painful rash. A woman experiences bouts of piercing pain in her throat. A teen girl is left debilitated by strange spells of dizziness and fatigue.
Three families are turned upside down by deadly monsters. A 4-year-old boy is plagued by crippling pain.. A college student with a small cut finds herself fighting for her life. A woman is driven to insanity by an intruder in her own body.
Revisiting: a baby girl's brain is infected with Cytomegalovirus (All I Got For Christmas Is Brain Surgery); a woman's eye's infected with the Dirofilaria immitis, a man with a surgical sponge left in his colon (A Holiday in the Hospital).
A young girl is brought to the hospital with stabbing pains in her scalp. A wife and mother is struck down by a severe string of mysterious symptoms that threaten to tear her family apart. A deadly invader turns a relaxing vacation into a nightmare.
A man falls comatose; a college student has a sore throat; and a young woman's symptoms confound experts.
A man has something living in his eye; a young girl mysteriously falls ill; and a woman's bizarre symptoms push her to the brink of insanity.
An infant falls mysteriously ill; a biology professor becomes an unexpected host; and a family man is brought to the brink.
A new mother is in critical condition; a young boy has an ailment that no antibiotics can cure; and a young man has an invader in his brain.
A young boy has a strange condition; a woman's symptoms push her to madness; and a toddler falls into a trance-like state when something begins eating his brain.
A teenager develops mysterious blotchy sores; an athlete is hit by a rare infection; and a woman battles strange bouts of vomiting.
A man coughs up blood; a newlywed husband is struck down by a rare disease; and a father struggles with abdominal pain.
An infant is suddenly paralyzed; a father is infected with a monster that threatens to blind him; and a woman's excruciating pain confounds doctors.
A woman is struck down by a dangerous parasite; an infant falls mysterious ill; and a fungus brings a young man to the brink of death.
A man develops a strange growth on his wrist; a nurse finds twig-like pieces in her urine; and a pregnant woman falls ill with flu-like symptoms.
