This is not a science fiction. No it is not some magic through mystic powers.
There is an infectious bacterium named Wolbachia capable of doing this in anthropods.
Thank God,not in humans.
They are passed from one generation to another generation only in the egg.So when they infect crustaceans and other insects,they either convert all of them into females or just kill the males.In some insects,females give birth without the need for the opposite sex
.
Wolbachia ,a widow maker does this to make sure of their own transmission.It manipulates sex by bringing out cytoplasmic incompatibility .Health females cannot mate with infected males,wheareas infected females can mate with both infected as well uninfected males.
Ah,what a strategy!
Carl Zimmer wrote a wonderful article The Tale of Sex and Survival on this reproductive parasite in Science magazine in 2001
International Wolbachia conference is held every year.Wolbachia Genome project was completed long back.
They are being researched for use as parasitic weapons against Insect pests and to treat Insect borne diseases like malaria.
Treacherous wonder.