Animal Planet's MONSTERS INSIDE ME Returns With New Monsters and Fresh Mysteries

SILVER SPRING, Md., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Last year, MONSTERS INSIDE ME proved that the smallest creatures are often the scariest. More than six million unique viewers latched onto the series in record numbers last season and watched as victims faced off with parasites as commonplace as bedbugs to the rare "Sleeping Sickness" parasite found only in remote parts of Southeastern Africa. Now, Animal Planet plays host to new episodes featuring a new myriad of tiny terrors.

On Wednesday, June 9, at 10PM (ET/PT), enter a world where the food chain is flipped, and humans fall prey to microscopic killers. These creatures' tenacious and frightening attempts to thrive and reproduce in their human host can result in blindness, paralysis, brain damage and even death. Episodes from this season feature sand flies, worms, parasitic eggs and an entire episode devoted to shape shifters that can withstand potent chemicals, inhospitable environments, robust immune systems.  They live up to their name by shifting and altering with each and every attacking circumstance and threat to their survival.

Season two of MONSTERS INSIDE ME introduces viewers to a diverse group of people who have faced deadly parasitic infections.

• In Massachusetts, Nathan is a travel agent who is suffering from night sweats, chills and low-grade fevers. He sees his primary physician, an infectious disease doctor, a hematologist and an immunologist, and all are dumbfounded. Finally, an infectious- disease doctor informs him that whatever is infecting him has caused his spleen to be massively inflamed and in danger of rupturing. And, if it does burst, he'll die. Will the doctors be able to diagnose and treat him before it's too late?

• In Ohio, a 20-year-old student goes on a camping trip with his local Boy Scout troop. After he complains of itching all over his body, doctors discover that chigger fleas have attached themselves to his hair follicles and have laid eggs in and around his body that are eating away at his flesh – literally.

• In Rochester, NY, a four-year-old girl becomes terribly ill. She is vomiting, cramping severely in her stomach and suffering from intestinal discomfort. Soon thereafter, the symptoms spread throughout the house, eventually affecting all six members of the family. After several tests, doctors discover that the family has been battling Cryptosporidium, a parasite that affects the digestive system. Shockingly, more than 3,500 other cases are all reported in the New York area. What is the common bond, and what can be done to spare all these lives?  

"Some of these experiences are rare – especially in North America – but they can happen to anyone," says biologist/zoologist Dan Riskin, who leads the scientific discussion about the parasites featured in MONSTERS INSIDE ME. "Parasites are in the food we eat, in the water we swim and on the ground we walk," continues Riskin. "They are lurking in the shadows, waiting for just the right moment to take a host."

Parasites cannot exist without their hosts – and unfortunately, people and animals play these unwilling roles. Parasites can eat our flesh, steal our nutrients and completely destroy our ability to function. They will do anything to survive, but so will we. We have fought these MONSTERS INSIDE ME before and will continue to meet them on the battlefield each time they invade our bodies. MONSTERS INSIDE ME gives viewers front-row seats as the people within the series struggle to survive attacks by nature's smallest predators.

MONSTERS INSIDE ME is produced for Animal Planet by Optomen Productions. Nicola Moody and Dominic Stobart are the executive producers for Optomen, and Erin Wanner is the executive producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is the development executive for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment.  APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.

SOURCE Animal Planet