Your brain is eating itself and you probably have it

Okay so, you know how everyone's always worried about *something* in this city – earthquakes, rent, what tech company just bought your favorite dim sum spot? Well, get this: there's a brain-eating virus that pretty much *everyone* on Earth is already infected with. Like, 99% of us. And we just found out it might not need you to be, like, totally immune-compromised to take hold. They used to think it was just folks with super low immunity, but nah. Turns out, it's just chilling in most of us, waiting for its moment. That's a new level of existential dread, even for San Francisco.

### Just Chilling in Your Skull

The virus is called JC polyomavirus, and the disease it causes is Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy, or PML. It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie that would be filmed in the Presidio, right? The wild part is, it's been lurking in our systems, dormant for most of us, and only causing fatal brain infections when our immune systems are super weak. But new research is suggesting that maybe, just *maybe*, it's not always about profound immune suppression. It makes you wonder what else is just hanging out in our bodies, waiting for a bad day.

* **What it is:** JC polyomavirus, causes PML.

* **Who has it:** Almost everyone – 99% of humanity.

* **What it does:** Can cause a fatal brain infection.

* **The new twist:** Might not always need a severely weakened immune system to activate.

This is the kind of thing that would send the Whole Foods crowd into a spiral, trying to find some organic, gluten-free, locally sourced brain cleanser. Like, you thought the tech bros complaining about the fog was bad? Wait until they find out their brain might be a tiny, viral buffet. That's the City, fam — fog, hills, and all, with a side of latent brain-eating viruses.

You gotta hear Keith go off about this on the morning show — catch it live at mornings.live.