What has six legs, antennae, fangs, a crisp exoskeleton, and a bad attitude? No, it's not your mother-in-law, it's a new strain of germ known only as germoroach.

Depicted here by an anonymous Tallahassee Democrat germ artist, its bark is bigger than its bite, researchers say, "but white blood cells don't know the difference. They just head for the hills, and who could blame them? They're just circles. They have no way of defending themselves."

"What are they gonna do," one microbiologist said, "turn into squares? Ooooh, scary." 

Seen here at 2,000 times its actual size, germoroach's modus operandi is simple. Forida State University researchers say it "literally scares white corpuscles into the small intestine and out the body."

"Germoroach is a genius herder. They wrangle white corpuscles and lead them wherever they please. Unfortunately, they lead them where your body can't make use of them."

So what can be done?

"Same solution as every year," one local doctor says, "get your flu shot. And maybe talk a little trash to the germoroach. They really do scare easy."