

President Obama waves as he boards Air Force One after the closing ceremony of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)

Other presidents have mountains named after them. They're the namesakes for high schools, boulevards, space centers, libraries, airports, and elk. George Washington has the capital of our country named for him, for crying out loud.

But how many of them have the dubious honor of being the namesake for a parasitic worm?

World, meet Baracktrema obamai, a deadly turtle pathogen named in honor of our current president. Believe it or not, it's supposed to be a compliment.

The new genus and species of parasitic flatworm was introduced this week in an article in the Journal of Parasitology. The tiny creatures, which are the thickness of a human hair, invade the lungs of freshwater turtles in Malaysia, often with deadly consequences.

Thomas Platt, a turtle disease expert who discovered the new species shortly before his recent retirement from St. Mary's College, said that the name is meant to honor President Obama — not gross him out. Though most people (understandably) aren't big parasite fans, Platt has a deep respect for the resilient little creatures.

They “face incredible obstacles to complete their [life cycles] and must contend with the immune system of the host in order to mature and reproduce,” he said in a statement.

[To save Darwin's finches from devastation, scientists breed hordes of blood-sucking maggots]

Platt's research also revealed that the worm is a relative of members of the genus Unicaecum, another turtle parasite. And both are more distant relatives of the worms that cause the disease schistosomiasis in humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, schistosomiasis infects as many as 200 million people in the year, second only to malaria as the world's most devastating parasitic illness. The worms crawl into their hosts' blood vessels and lay eggs, which can become lodged in victims' organs and cause fever, muscle pain, liver problems, even seizures or cancer.

Understanding Baracktrema obamai's relationship to Unicaecum can help scientists understand the evolutionary history of these parasitic diseases, Platt and his colleagues write. In turn, that will help researchers figure out how to treat them.

As he was delving into the phylogenetic tree of parasites, Platt had been conducting research on his own family history. In the process, he discovered that he shares a not-so-distant common ancestor with the president.

“I have named a number of species after people I admire, from my father-in-law, my PhD adviser, and good friends who are academics and/or amateur naturalists,” Platt said. “Baracktrema obamai will endure as long as there are systematists studying these remarkable organisms.”

The turtle worm joins a long list of creatures named for Obama, which includes a lichen, an extinct lizard (the "obamadon"), a species of trapdoor spider and another parasite. At this rate, perhaps the president is looking forward to leaving office.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly characterized the genus Unicaecum. It is a parasite that infects turtles.

Read more:

Giraffes aren't just giraffes. Turns out there are four species.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx blasts off on ambitious mission to visit asteroid, bring a piece home

Five times 'Star Trek' brought out the science nerd in all of us for #StarTrek50

Beer yeast is tame. Wine yeast is wild. Draw your own conclusions.

Why bats ‘waggle’ their heads like adorable little puppies</s>Close

U.S. President Barack Obama has been honored in a unique way.

Researchers have discovered a new species of parasitic flatworms inhabiting turtles and has named it Baracktrema obamai, detailing their work in a study published in The Journal of Parasitology. Parasites are beautiful and resilient, so the researchers saw naming their discovery after Obama as an act of honor.

According to lead researcher Dr. Thomas R. Platt, the idea to name the parasite after the U.S. president came after he discovered that they are related: fifth cousins, twice removed. They have a common ancestor called George Frederick Toot, who lived in Middletown, Pennsylvania, between 1759 and 1815.

Long and thin and "cool as hell," the newly christened parasitic flatworms infect turtles.

"They 'face incredible obstacles to complete their journey (life cycle) and must contend with the immune system of the host in order to mature and reproduce,'" Platt said.

Platt, who is a retired professor of biology at Saint Indiana's Mary's College, called the parasite phenomenally incredible and eliciting profound respect.

"Baracktrema obamai will endure as long as there are systematists studying these remarkable organisms," he added.

Considering the unusual characteristics of the group of turtle parasites, the American parasitologists' team decided to categorize them into a separate genus and added as a new species. Characterized by threadlike bodies, the parasite was most prominently observed in the black marsh turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis), freshwater turtles and the Malaysian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis).

Once inside a turtle, the parasites penetrate the lungs and lay hundreds of fluke eggs. However, it is unclear how they infect the hosts in the first place.

Parasitologists are also of the belief that the turtle parasites could be the possible ancestors of the flatworms that are spreading the disease Schistosomiasis in developing countries and affecting millions of people.

In August, the death of thousands of fish prompted the closure of the popular Yellowstone River in Montana, as well as hundreds of miles of other waterways.

According to the state wildlife officials, the deaths were caused by a parasite not native to the area. This means it was likely introduced by people through contaminated boats or fishing waders or other means, although it is also possible for birds to have acquired the virus from another area and transported it to Montana.

Decontamination stations were set up by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to help stem the problem. The agency also advised the public to be more mindful of cleaning their equipment when moving between bodies of water.

ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.</s>Last week, a new species of flatworm discovered in Malaysia was named after President Barack Obama as Baracktrema obamai.

The scientist making this designation, Thomas R. Platt, chose Mr. Obama, a distant relative, and a person Mr. Platt admires.

Right away another new flatworm has been discovered, in New York waters, and it will be named after former mayor of New York, Mr. Rudy Giuliani.

This time the honor is bestowed by Dr. Vertiginal Waymouth, with scientific designation for the new worm Giuliatrema nonsequituriai.

Dr. Waymouth has explained that his choice of Mr. Giuliani is based on two factors: a) the former mayor's logic on Iraq, recently expounded on ABC News; and b) metaphorical applications of the worm's habits to national security.

The new species is again a parasite infecting a host target and implanting eggs that endure and allow reproduction of the worm itself.

Part a) of the honor for Mr. Giuliani derives from his saying to ABC's George Stephanopoulus that the US should have seized Iraq's oil when it had a chance, before leaving in 2011, because in war "Anything's legal."

That is, taking the oil and putting the U.S. in charge of distributing it would have prevented its being used by the terrorists.

This theft would be legal, Mr. Giuliani believes, because war allows it. But legal experts have pointed out that seizing Iraq's oil would have been illegal, based on international law for at least the last 100 years.

Nonetheless, Mr. Giuliani argues that with Iraq's oil under the invader's lock and key, the defeated Sunnis would have been content to sit back and watch TV.

Having no oil to peddle to places like Turkey, ISIS would have been without supporting funds and ability, probably causing wide-spread sighing plus wringing of hands in the sense of "Nothing to be done."

The new governing class Shia in Iraq would have been happy to have the question of who controls and owns the oil off their hands.

They would have sat back, saying, "The Americans have taken this burden of our oil off our hands! What a relief! And of course we accept their decisions on how our oil should be shared out to the oil companies and so forth."

In part b) of Dr. Waymouth's reasoning, the remarkable similarity of the policy Mr. Guiliani is proposing for the US, and the flatworm's behavior, is almost startling.

That is, the flatworm sneaks into its host, attacks and occupies it, and seizes its resources for growth and reproduction. The host withers.

Pentagon strategists are reported interested in these developments, with Flatworm Stealth Programs and Flatworm Special Forces under study.
Baracktrema obamai, a new species of parasite is named after Barack Obama.