PART 2 Of Series (PART 1 - 8/05/2021 Edition)
When Dr. Tom Platt, a 1967 graduate of Boardman High School, named a parasite in honor of former President Barak Obama, it set off a firestorm of negative comments about the naming, prompting Dr. Platt, retired biology professor at St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Ind., to author and defend his action in the following ‘op-ed that was published in The Washington Post.
(Final story of a two-part series)
I named a parasite after Barack Obama. It was meant as a compliment
I’m the scientist who recently made news for naming a new genus and species of parasite after President Obama. Before you accuse me of being some kind of hater, racist or worse — as plenty have — let me be clear: I absolutely intended it as an honor.
I’ve had two species of parasites named after me, and I take great pride in the fact that colleagues thought my contributions to the field warranted this recognition. If I had named a new predator, say a jungle cat or bird of prey, for Obama, there would have been no question of my intentions. But most people have an unjustly negative opinion of the incredible — and, yes, beautiful — organisms that I have spent my life investigating.
The problem seems to be in how parasites make their living. Animal lovers don’t find it off-putting that predators capture and dismember their prey to obtain the energy they require to grow, reproduce and feed their young. But because of the way parasites draw off some of the energy of their hosts to achieve the same ends, they are somehow seen as lesser forms of life — when, in fact, they can make their hosts better.
Parasites are under constant attack by the immune system of the host; some parasites kill some hosts, some hosts kill some parasites. However, the hosts that survive possess immune systems that are better equipped to combat the infection and pass those attributes on to their offspring. Conversely, the parasites that survive the improved immune attack will pass those features on to their progeny. In many instances, a stalemate is reached whereby host and parasite coexist in a stable relationship.
Baracktrema obamai belongs to a larger group of trematodes (flatworms) called “blood flukes” that inhabit the circulatory systems of their hosts. Each major group of vertebrates — fish, reptiles, birds and mammals (amphibians are curiously exempt) — has its own corresponding species of blood fluke. This includes the species that infects hundreds of millions of humans worldwide and causes the disease schistosomiasis.
The life cycle of a blood fluke is daunting. Eggs pass from the host into water where they hatch and release a “miracidium” (a bit like a paramecium) that will die if it does not find its next host, a snail, within 12 hours. If it successfully penetrates a snail, the miracidium reproduces asexually and produces thousands of new forms called “cercariae,” which then leave the snail and have 12 hours to find the final host. For species of Schistosoma, that’s a human. For Baracktrema obamai, it’s a turtle.
When the cercariae enter the blood stream of the final host, you would expect them to face rejection, like a kidney transplant from an incompatible donor. The host’s immune system is fully capable of “recognizing” this foreign organism and destroying it. But amazingly that doesn’t happen: Within 24 hours, the parasite develops a type of molecular cloak — eat your heart out, Harry Potter — that makes it invisible to the host. If that isn’t fantastic I don’t know what is. We know only the rudiments of how this occurs, but if we could understand it at the genetic and molecular level, it could have potential for improving transplant surgery.
I can’t share all the incredible things that we know about parasites in this short space. Suffice to say they are amazing, beautiful and cool as hell. Anyone should be proud to have one named in his or her honor. I know I am.
Comments
Science nerds got this immediately. Discovering a new species gives you naming rights, by tradition, it’s usually a rare moment for a tiny bit of immortality in a field where honors for a career of dedicated, disciplined, and occasionally brilliant work are seldom public, and where you get to immortalize yourself in some tiny corner of the science universe.
Taking that opportunity to name something after someone else, a respected mentor, leader in the field, or just something or someone you really like or admire, a mentor, colleague, former professor, is also a tradition, and an honor. It’s recognized as a pure class-act to do that.
You also have to love that Prof. Platt takes MOST of the space in an article written under the pretext of explaining the naming honor that some might consider an insult, to expound and inform people about the amazing critters that he studies.
Bear 100
Cool! But you do realize that many hear won’t look beyond the terms Obama and parasite, right? You know, the ones who think the earth is flat and when you get to the edge, you fall off?
Sunmarie
I’d say based on the fact that a parasite can either kill the host immune system and or the host and that Baracktrema obamai develops a molecular cloak in 24 hour that essentially allows it to thrive without being detected, that the good doctor picked a perfect namesake for his new dsicovery
BBC059
This is a tough one. Inventing the toilet got Thomas Crapper immortality. Not sure I would hang that one on my “I love me” wall!
NotPC2
Mr. Platt, if I give you the benefit of my doubt at the very least your thinking was incomplete as was your explanation. Your detailing of the parasite does not explain why you thought this would be an honor for Obama. If you read the comments you can see that you gave the trolls something else to be stupid about. Name a few other people you have honored in this way.
Concerned13
Getting named after a discovery is considered an honor in any scientific community. This man’s field of expertise happens to be parasites, and in fact has a parasite named after himself. I doubt he was thinking about internet trolls when he did it, so maybe give him a break?
Ryan Harte
He mentions a favorite professor, and himself. It is a high honor for a scientist to name something that has existed for untold ages, and will continue to exist for many more, after any person, to live on after we are all gone. Look at the names of trees, bugs, planetary moons, etc. The challenge is for us to take a moment to see parasites in the same way an expert does -- as another source of important discovery and excitement. Once you see it from his point of view -- always a good exercise -- the honor is clear.
Fairfaxvoter
Wow, an actual thought invoking article in what has become a pathetic propaganda medium. To the author: Love your interests, don’t agree with your politics. I believe that certain virus that reach a balanced symbiotic state in the human body, such as std’s that position themselves at the base of the spine, actually have the capacity to influence subconscious behavior...actions which would result in their propagation.
Julius Valdez
In spite of his explanations, I would have preferred another term. Do you think Trump would provide those details when he uses that term to refer to the President or Hillary and their supporters?
KAZ 75
Well at least he didn’t call it a Democrat.
Mike27
So many cynics, too many keyboards...the article was fun, fanciful, and shows why this guy finds things to name, while so many comments show why some can only criticize what they couldn’t do.
bumanchew
PICTURED: TOM PLATT, pictured, defended his naming of a parasite in honor of a former U.S. President, noting “Before you accuse me of being some kind of hater, racist or worse — as plenty have — let me be clear: I absolutely intended it as an honor. I’ve had two species of parasites named after me, and I take great pride in the fact that colleagues thought my contributions to the field warranted this recognition.
