The first time I worked in Japan, I was in the Kansai region, which lies in the southern part of the main island of Honshu. In the late summer, in the warm, muggy evenings so typical of that region, one omnipresent thing was the call of Japanese cicadas, which, unlike our variety, are present every summer. Hearing the call of the Japanese cicada to this day evokes memories of the rice fields, the orchards, the mountains and valleys of Japan.

Our American variety is very much in evidence this year, as a major hatching cycle is underway. But the American cicadas contend with something their Japanese cousins do not: a fungal infection that would have made George A. Romero clap his hands in admiration, as it turns them into hyper-sexualized zombie cicadas.

A sexually transmitted disease that is said to turn cicadas into “zombies” and causes their genitals to fall off has been detected in southern parts of Illinois and is spreading throughout the Midwest. 

The fungal infection, called Massospora cicadina, targets only the 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas. This year’s “cicada-geddon” is brought to us by one each of Brood XIII, which is primarily in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, and Brood XIX, which extends south and east from there. 

As to how the fungus works:

The white fungus takes over male cicadas and causes the gonads to be torn from the body. The chalky spores that are released by the fungus are spread to other nearby cicadas, infecting more and more. 

The fungus also takes over the way the cicadas behave. Even though their reproductive parts have been replaced by a fungus, they are driven to mate with as many other cicadas as possible, Dr. Matt Kasson, an associate professor of mycology and forest pathology at West Virginia University, explained to CNN. 

Infected males also flick their wings in an attractive way, luring in more victims. 

Well, that's just downright unsettling.

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Here's how this is liable to play out over, oh, probably the next century or so. There will be — there always are — some cicadas that are resistant to the fungus. They will survive; either the fungus will not be able to infect them, or the cicada's immune systems will kill it or render it harmless once they are infected. Those cicadas, obviously, will not lose their gonads and die; they will mate normally and lay eggs, while their infected counterparts will fail to do so. Over a couple of cycles, most of the susceptible cicadas will be infected and die, while the resistant ones will reproduce more resistant ones, giving the population a natural immunity. 

Imagine that. Exposure to a pathogen can help develop herd immunity. Who knew?

Oh, the fungus will spread to adjacent cicada populations, where the process will be repeated, producing more hyper-sexualized zombie cicadas. Nature is weird. And, honestly, what could be more disconcerting than zombie cicadas?

Of course, this, too, shall pass. Eventually, the summer will end, and the cicadas, both zombified and non-zombified, will disappear, and people living in the areas affected by this summer's humdinger of a hatch will get some peace and quiet again.

In the meantime, those of us living in these afflicted areas should try to take it all in stride. After all, we shouldn't let it bug us.