Las Plagas (Spanish : "The Plagues") are a fictional breed of parasitic organisms from the Resident Evil game series. A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ... Resident Evil, known in Japan as Biohazard ), is a highly successful survival-horror franchise that started life as video games developed by Capcom and created by Shinji Mikami. ...

Unlike the T-Virus, which turns its victims into mindless zombies, the hosts of Las Plagas (such as the Ganados) retain their intelligence and are capable of following complex instructions and working collectively to pursue their target. For these reasons, they can be considered in some ways to be more dangerous than Umbrella's virus-born mutants, which tend to be uncontrollable, if not completely mindless. Vials containing T and G-Virus samples. ... A group of actors portraying zombies in a film A zombie is an animated human body devoid of a soul. ... This is a list of creatures (enemy characters) featured in the video game Resident Evil 4. ...

History

G-virus sample, "The Sample"

Las Plagas were first discovered by a religious group in Europe known as "Los Illuminados" in an unknown region of Spain. The cult used Las Plagas as a means of recruiting new members. However, the first castellan of the Salazar family opposed the cult and sealed off access to the parasites under his castle. Image File history File linksMetadata Las_Plagas_Sample. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Las_Plagas_Sample. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Los Illuminados is a religious cult responsible fo the Las Plagas virus. ...

Centuries later, Osmund Saddler, the new leader of Los Illuminados, brainwashed Ramon Salazar, the eighth Salazar castellan, into joining Los Illuminados and opening the seal that concealed Las Plagas. The two hired the local villagers to excavate the tunnels beneath the castle. Osmund Saddler is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the video game, Resident Evil 4. ... Los Illuminados is a religious cult responsible fo the Las Plagas virus. ... // Main article: Leon S. Kennedy Ashley Ashley Graham (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) is the 20-year-old daughter of the newly-elected President, taken captive by Los Illuminados during her trip home from Massachusetts and held in a European village. ...

Due to years of concealment, Las Plagas fossilized in the rock below Salazar's castle. However, Las Plagas were still alive at the microscopic level as spores within the fossils. The miners excavating the site accidentally inhaled the spores, which grew into full-fledged Plagas parasites within their bodies. Saddler cultivated the spores, growing them into eggs, and then injected his followers.

Albert Wesker, who is now apparently dedicated to rebuilding the Umbrella Corporation, had sent Jack Krauser to earn Saddler's trust enough to secure a sample of Las Plagas, but Saddler would not trust the American Krauser. Wesker subsequently sent Ada Wong to complete the mission. She used Leon's presence to cover her own, secured "The Sample" , and gave it to her true employer, an unnamed organization, instead of Wesker. Albert Wesker is a central character in Capcoms Resident Evil series. ... Jack Krauser is a fictional character in the video game, Resident Evil 4. ... Ada Wong is a recurring video game character appearing in the Resident Evil video game series. ...

Characteristics

Plagas visible in infrared

Las Plagas is a type of parasite that alters its host's behavior by attaching itself internally to the central nervous system. The undeveloped parasite is found between the lungs, beneath the heart, where it can tap into the host's spinal cord. Unlike other parasites, Las Plagas are social organisms, meaning that they work together for survival. Luis Sera suggests that they have a collective intelligence. It is also believed that the parasites can communicate with each other through a unique ultrasonic wave frequency, although this is purely hypothetical. Nevertheless, the Ganados appeared to be under the influence of Saddler, who carried a staff that was mounted by a large mass of flesh resembling a stage one plaga. The loyalty of a parasite depends on the personality of the host; it may be possible for an infected person to betray a controller. This could explain the behavior of the game's mysterious Merchant. Image File history File linksMetadata Plagas_Infrared_Scope. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Plagas_Infrared_Scope. ... A diagram showing the CNS: 1. ... // Main article: Leon S. Kennedy Ashley Ashley Graham (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) is the 20-year-old daughter of the newly-elected President, taken captive by Los Illuminados during her trip home from Massachusetts and held in a European village. ...

Besides influencing the actions of those they infect, infestation has several distinct symptoms. These include, but are not limited to: coughing up blood, convulsions, sudden unconsciousness, hallucinations or nightmares, blood vessels swelling and becoming visible throughout the skin and discoloration of the iris – usually to a reddish color. In anatomy, the iris (plural irises or irides) is the most visible part of the eye of vertebrates, including humans. ...

The parasites also have a high adaptability rate, as they can possess other kinds of organisms besides humans (Ramon Salazar uses infested wolves as guard dogs in his castle). In addition to the Ganados, Saddler and his men also performed genetic experiments,, with the parasites and human specimens, producing El Gigante, Regenerators, Verdugos, and the U3. Novistadors, large insect like humanoids, however, do not appear to be infected are not infected with parasites, as they never manifest any parasites behavior associated with them. Like Plaga-infested organisms, they are loyal to Ramon Salazar (and, presumably, Osmund Saddler).

A Stage One Plaga exposed after decapitation of its host

All of the members of Los Illuminados, including Saddler himself, are hosts to Las Plagas. Saddler, Salazar, and Bitores Mendez, the village chief, seem to contain a symbiotic, as apposed to parasitic, strain of Las Plagas, most likely a queen type plaga. This particular strain allows complete freedom for the host as well as the ability to manifest several different kinds of physical mutations. It should be noted, though, that Plaga in Saddler has given him a measure of control over the other plagas. In an interesting side not, it should be examined that while Bitores manifested several physical mutations which are radically alien to human physiology, he still had a glass eye, suggesting that the plaga could not regenerate lost tissue. This fact also refutes the idea that the plagasare capable of genetic modification. Image File history File linksMetadata Octopus_Plagas. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Octopus_Plagas. ... // Main article: Leon S. Kennedy Ashley Ashley Graham (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) is the 20-year-old daughter of the newly-elected President, taken captive by Los Illuminados during her trip home from Massachusetts and held in a European village. ...

Except for manifesting when the host body experiences sufficient trauma, Las Plagas have no mutagenic effect on the host's body. Other creatures, like the Novistadors and Garradors, do exhibit mutation, but this is the result of genetic manipulation, not an effect of casual infection. However, it is the fact that victims exhibit no outward signs of infestation, besides reddish-discolored irises, and the fact that their actions can be coordinated, which makes Las Plagas a very dangerous threat, since they are much more subtle and invasive than Umbrella's viruses, and can be used to assume direct control over individuals.

A memo written by Luis Sera lists three examples of flukes that can influence their hosts, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Galactosomum and Leucochloridium. This fact lends credence to the idea of the plagas controlling their host. // Main article: Leon S. Kennedy Ashley Ashley Graham (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) is the 20-year-old daughter of the newly-elected President, taken captive by Los Illuminados during her trip home from Massachusetts and held in a European village. ... Subclasses Aspidogastrea Digenea The Trematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes, which contains two groups of parasitic worms. ... Binomial name Dicrocoelium dendriticum (Rudolphi, 1819) The Lancet liver fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) is a parasite which lives its life in three animals. ... Parasitism is one version of symbiosis (living together), a phenomenon in which two organisms which are phylogenetically unrelated co-exist over a prolonged period of time, usually their entire life. ... Parasitism is one version of symbiosis (living together), a phenomenon in which two organisms which are phylogenetically unrelated co-exist over a prolonged period of time, usually their entire life. ...

There are three different types of normal Las Plagas, commonly known as the Tentacle type (Stage One), the Worm type (Stage Two), and the Spider type (Stage Three).

• The Tentacle type is the most commonly encountered. It resembles a sort of stalk with several tentacles growing out of it, hence the name. It attacks by swinging a large, scythe-like tentacle at its enemies.
• The Worm type resembles a fat worm or centipede, and attacks by engulfing and tearing off the head of any enemy within range.
• The Spider type is the only Plaga capable of movement outside a host. It resembles a large spider, and attacks by spitting an acidic fluid at long range, and devouring the head of its enemies at close range. When a Spider type would normally be killed, it detatches from the host body and attacks on its own.

Countermeasures

If a person has been infested with the parasite, then it can be neutralized with medication before the egg hatches. However, once the Plaga has hatched, then the only way to kill off the parasite is by administering readiation therapy (a specific drug can be used to suppress control of the parasites until then). During this process, Las Plagas clinch onto the host's nerves, causing an extreme burning feeling. This extremely painful procedure has the possibility of impairing the host's consciousness, and may kill the host if the Plaga has already matured into adulthood. It appears to be difficult or impossible to kill a mature Plaga without killing the host; the creature's incorporation into the host's central nervous system is too advanced.

Luis Sera, a researcher who betrayed Saddler, built an operating machine - the Plaga Removal Laser - which produced this kind of radiation that instantly kills Plagas. (after extensive research regarding how Las Plagas might be removed).

Las Plagas are also very vulnerable to bright lights. They will only emerge from their hosts at night, and sudden exposure to very bright light causes the parasite to explode, as seen when one is exposed to a Flash Grenade.