Yeerk removal via brain surgery?

[morfowt]

unless of course some yeerks want to be free from kandrona rays...which really isn't that farfetched...

[Phoenix004]

As I already said, there's no way of knowing if the oatmeal would work as a vaccination. It shouldn't, but then again how exactly are Yeerks affected by something their host has consumed anyway?

If I had to guess, I'd say that it doesn't work. Otherwise anyone that had consumed Instant Maple and Ginger flavoured Oatmeal before being infested would turn out like that crazy guy in book 17. Therefore, there would be others like him turning up all the time if the oatmeal worked as a vaccination.

[Darth Revan]

No, you don't use oatmeal as the vaccine, you extract the narcotic from the oatmeal, and inject it straight into the bloodstream. The narcotic alone is the vaccine, not the oatmeal.

And the Yeerk absorbs the narcotic through the bloodstream when it comes into contact with the brain. Osmosis baby! do you realize how thin those guys flatten themselves?

If I had to guess, I'd say that it doesn't work. Otherwise anyone that had consumed Instant Maple and Ginger flavoured Oatmeal before being infested would turn out like that crazy guy in book 17. Therefore, there would be others like him turning up all the time if the oatmeal worked as a vaccination.

That's why i said,

Those already infested may be lost, but those still free would forever never have to worry about it.

unless of course some yeerks want to be free from kandrona rays...which really isn't that farfetched...

As well said as that is morf, i don't think the Yeerks would want to go insane, no matter how much they don't want to depend on Kandrona Rays.

[Chad32]

I wonder if there's a way for a Yeerk to regain its sanity. I think it would be interesting to see a group of Controllers that are crazy, but are also self aware enough to do something. Most people would think it's a gang of crazy Human thugs, but it's the kondrona free Yeerks banding together.

[Darth Revan]

INSANITIES UNITE!!!!!

That reminds me of a joke slogan:

DYSLEXICS UNTIE!

[Shock]

INSANITIES UNITE!!!!!

That reminds me of a joke slogan:

DYSLEXICS UNTIE!

that reminds me of another slogan:

procrastinators of the world unite!

...tomarrow

[Darth Revan]

How 'bout next week?

[Gafrash]

...The problem is we have no idea if it's possible to safely remove a Yeerk that way, and even if it was, I think I'd rather be tied up for 3 days than go through dangerous brain surgery!

Yeah, good point.

I don't think it is; in books where you get a Yeerk's POV, something along these lines is commonly stated, "...I felt my neurons attaching to the host's neurons..."

So, unless you plan to sever ties between billions of individual neurons, which are cells, you cannot really do this. I don't even think this is possible. Even if you could, it would not be "natural" and the ties may not reconnect to the functions of the host's brain, which could cause disability or death.

I'd wait three days. If I had the oatmeal problem, well, I guess I'd just have to deal with randomly spazzing out every so often.

I agree with this.
The reason I don't think it's possible is because from the information we have of how a Yeerk's biology is that they are able to cling on and leech onto literally everything the host has, effectively BECOMING THAT HOST. To a point that it seems to go BEYOND a physical brain connection, for it can experience e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g (including sensations and feelings and memories) that the host feels.
Not only that, but the Yeerk also seeps some of its feelings across to the host, as we've seen. Unlike the host, the Yeerk is able to control what the other can sense, but in the moments of the Fugue the Yeerk loses this control.
This suggests a reciprocal exchange of neurons at work.
I think the Yeerk BECOMES an extension of the host's brain. Letting go ONLY when it wants to.

With the Yeerkbane, we don't know if it did its Yeerk-preying thing without damaging or killing the helpless host.
But I imagine, that much like with the surgery idea, it would involve brain damage.

[Darth Revan]

Oh definite brain damage!

Anytime you even bump a neuron, it could damage the brain. I mean, rapid decceleration (word?) alone damages the brain. so if an abrupt stop in physics can hurt the brain, imagine scraping or cutting parts of it. The dude (used loosly) is screwed.