I had a HS zoology teacher who loved parasites. He had multiple weird stories about them. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time I gave my parents crab lice?" This led to him saying he gave his normal scalp hair lice to his parents by napping in their bed.
He also did a live demonstration where he fed a freshwater leech. He kept them in an aquarium in the back of the classroom, along with some crawdads & bluegill from the local pond. He let the leech attach to his palm, and walked around the room so we all could get a good look at it feeding. Not a teacher I'll ever forget.

great article!

Parasites are “almost like Pokémon,” says Carrie Cizauskas, a freelance science consultant with a background in disease ecology. “They’re like these weird little alien creatures that you can be like, ‘Ooh, this one has these capabilities and this kind of power.’”

You can also catch them all!