**Related Video Above: What to do about cicadas emerging in your yard
CLEVELAND (WJW) — An epic amount of cicadas are expected to infiltrate Ohio this spring and summer, with multiple broods emerging from their current earthen homes to fill the air with their song.
But along with the bugs comes something far more foul: a fungus that has a zombie-like effect on their bodies and minds.
Not every cicada is going to be affected by the Massospora cicadina fungus, but there is a chance for up to 10% of them to be infected, researchers at West Virginia University recently told CNN.
These cicadas, which have either been underground for 13 or 17 years just waiting to hit adulthood, come out looking to mate and start the process all over again.
WVU researcher Dr. Matt Kasson explained to CNN that what happens to those infected with the parasite gets grisly. It grows inside of them until there’s nowhere else to go and “a clump of spores erupts out of where the genitals and abdomen once were. It looks like there’s a gumdrop that’s been dropped in chalk dust, glued to the backside of these cicadas.”
The problem was first noted in a WVU study published in 2019, when researchers, including Kasson, noticed some cicadas emerging were acting eccentrically.
A periodical cicada nymph extends a limb in Macon, Ga., on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, after being found while digging holes for rosebushes. Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) 
Two different cicada broods are scheduled to emerge from the ground across states in the South and Midwest this spring. (Getty Images)
Students at the university dubbed these bugs as “flying salt shakers of death,” as they go around in a “hypersexual” state attempting to spread the white chalky substance from their undersides to other cicadas.
Researchers found the parasitic fungus had chemicals not unlike those in hallucinogenic mushrooms, but noted it would take eating a lot of them for humans or pets to feel any of the effects of it (to be clear: researchers advised against ingesting cicadas that appeared infected or dead).
For those who may have recently watched or played “The Last of Us,” which depicts the zombification of humanity due to a fungus, understand that Massospora cicadina only affects cicadas.
Scientists hope further research of the infection could lead to new drug discovery, while working to analyze what this means for cicada genetics.
