If you've come here to read political nonsense and possible slander about our outgoing president, you've come to the wrong place. As of March, Barack Obama is officially a parasite. No, I'm not joking.

"It's long. It's thin. And it's cool as hell!" says scientist Thomas Platt, a recently retired biology professor from Saint Mary's College in Indiana (Yay MIAA!) who discovered and named Baracktrema obami. This tiny parasitic flatworm lives in turtles blood and although it seems to be distantly related to a parasite that causes disease in humans, Platt says it does no harm to turtles.

You might be thinking, "How rude! Who wants a parasite named after them?" Well, the answer is me! And lots of other people in the scientific world. People pay thousands of dollars to have parasites named after them and it's quite the honor.

Platt, who is a distant relative of our president, says parasites get a bad rep because they live in and get nutrients from a host animal. Not all parasites are bad! Platt even says "I hold them in awe and with phenomenal respect." He describes his newly discovered microscopic friends as "phenomenally incredibly resilient organisms."

You can check out Platts study in the Journal of Parasitology. Michael Sekhedo, editor of the Journal of Parasitology says parasites are cool, crucial to life, and around us. In fact, they make up about 7 out of every 10 animals on the planet!

Platt has discovered and named about 30 new species in his career but has decided to retire on a high note. He has named previous species after people he has great respect for and thought it would be an excellent way to honor the president.

This isn't Obama's first species named after him. Including Baracktrema obami, Obama has inspired the name for four species; a spider, a fish, and an extinct species of lizards.

So congrats, Obama! Welcome to the world of parasites!