Have you been having trouble beating the Parasite disease type on Mega Brutal difficulty? Have you found absolutely NO ONE make a walkthrough or even so much as given any tips? Well here you go, my friends! Your one stop-shop for squashing those little pests without decaying away all your Authority!

The first step to any successful planet decontamination is your Task Force. It is imperative you choose the right ones to ensure victory. Use the ones as follows:

-Fast Response EMTs (these will help us to locate the disease quickly, before it spreads to too many countries)
-Technical Officer (same reasoning as above, limiting spread)
-Medical Coordinator (you won't be able to fully stop the disease from popping off in a specific country, so reducing how much Authority you lose from this is a must)
-Celebrity Scientist (this will help with Non-Compliance as Quarantine Measures are the crux of this strategy)
-Forensic Epidemiologist (the longer it takes us to develop a cure, the longer we'll have to contend with Authority loss, so any help is a boon)

Now that we have our team assembled, it's time to get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 40,000 times squash that parasite!

The starting location is always very important, but it is doubly so here. You want somewhere central so you can quickly identify the origin point. My ideal location is Egypt as it will prevent the disease from spreading out of Africa right away if it happens to spawn there.

THIS IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: The parasite's biggest strength is in its ability to spread rapidly. This means that if more than one continent is infected, or if a critical destination is infected, you're basically screwed. Restart if the disease spawns, or infects, any of these locations at the beginning:

-Russia (Russia is a large country in the border of 2 continents. Once the disease reaches this point it becomes impossible to contain)
-China (China has the same problem as Russia, with the addition of having many airports/seaports to spread the disease from)
-UK (the UK is one of the most heavily trafficked areas on the map. If the Parasite manages to infect it, you won't be able to shut it down before it spread to several other countries)

You should also restart if the Parasite infects multiple continents. For example, if the Parasite has infected the US and then spread to Saudi Arabia, it will be near impossible to Quarantine both continents without Non-Compliance taking away most of your Authority.

Now that we're in, we need to find this Parasite. Immediately upon the game starting, open your disease menu and get:
-Investigate Outbreaks
-Government Partnerships
-Deploy Field Operatives

Since we have Fast Response EMTs, the Field Operatives are going to be our linchpin in this strategy. Maneuver them around to locate the disease as quickly as you can, starting with major traffic countries, and those mentioned in the last section. My usual route for the Operatives goes:

-Russia
-China
-Saudi Arabia (if the other planes haven't checked it yet)
-UK
-South Africa
-US
-Brazil

The most ideal location for the Parasite to be is in either South America or Africa. These two continents are relatively small and clustered, having one or two land borders to keep an eye on. While trying to contain other continents is possible, I strongly recommend restarting until the Parasite spawns in one of these continents.


Once you've located where the Parasite spawned, your first action should be Quarantining it. Buy the Alert for the continent the disease is in, and then close Land Borders and close, Sea and Air Borders as necessary. This will keep the disease from overtaking too many countries at once.
IF THE DISEASE HAS NOT INFECTED A COUNTRY WITH SEAPORTS OR AIRPORTS, DO NOT CLOSE THAT TYPE. Unnecessary closing will only increase Non-Compliance and cause you further headaches.

Immediately after you have closed all necessary borders, and forced the infected countries to hunker down, buy:
-Furlough Schemes
-Targeted Economic Aid
-Adapt Society
-Debt Relief
-National Stimulus



This will keep the Non-Compliance down to a minimum. However, you will need to routinely apply the Economic Aid to countries that reach 100% Non-Compliance in order to prevent substantial Authority loss. Make sure that as soon as you've controlled Non-Compliance, buy the Force Lockdowns. If Non-Compliance becomes too much after acquiring Force Lockdowns, you can refund it. If you do, make sure you keep an eye on the amount of infected in each country, and send your Field Operatives there, as well as border counties as some infected may slip through the looser restrictions.

Be aware of any rogue world events, such as the Tokyo Olympics, which might spread the Parasite to other counties that you have not contained. If this happens, IMMEDIATELY buy Targeted Quarantine and use it to keep that country continuously locked down to prevent further spread.

By now, you should have finished analyzing the disease. However, DON'T BUY THE VACCINE RESEARCH IMMEDIATELY! There are some other things we need to do first. Instead, buy:

-Emergency Care
-Infection Control
(These will allow our Field Operatives to help curb the infections/deaths within the countries to help reduce panic. Remember to send your Operatives to the country with the greatest % infected. This can be checked on the World Menu.)
-Medical Aid I, II (Only buy these if your Parasite started in Africa, or another cluster of poor nations. These eliminate the Parasite's poor country bonus which is invaluable when containing it in poor areas of the world.)


Once your Operatives are in disease fighting shape, we can begin to work on a cure. Buy the Vaccine Research option, then move over to the Response tab.

Here's where things get a bit tricky. You want to buy Responses based on what is causing the most Authority drop. Infection if Panic is the greatest cause, Fatality if Deaths are. Each one has a general path you should follow:

Infection:
-Hand Washing
-PPE Package I,II
-Mask Wearing

Fatality:
-Clinical Treatments
-Respiratory Support
-IV Fluid Therapy
-Advanced Antiparasitics



If a lot of countries are infected, buy Contact Tracing I,II, and Testing Capacity I as well.

By the time you finish reducing the people's panic, your Research should be done. If not, investing in the first Accelerated Research isn't a bad idea. You don't need to do much for the manufacturing stage, the game will automatically start that as soon as you finish researching, but if it seems to be going too slow and infections start to get out of hand again, buy Accelerated Manufacturing I to help it along.

If you've followed all the steps faithfully, and avoided any nasty RNG blindsiding you thanks RNGesus you prick, once Manufacturing is complete, the Parasite should be exterminated! Congrats!



If there's any advice you guys want to add, or anything I may need to change, let me know in the comments! Adieu!