Tons of true cat possessor have Toxoplasma gondii , the common feline parasite . We ’ve known for quite some time that T. gondiimakes rats lose their fear of cats , making them more likely to be eat . We ’ve also known that the parasite causes humans to become more reckless , and in some caseshornier .
https://gizmodo.com/parasites-trick-their-rat-hosts-into-being-eaten-by-cat-5832395
Top image : Creepy Cat # 1 viaAnima Handmade .
But now , evidence is pack up that T. gondii may have something to do with the rise in schizophrenia , may be a major factor in hundred of thousands of dealings fatalities , and could be aim people to suicide . There ’s new evidence that the leech jack up the dopamine receptors in your Einstein , which govern pleasure and fear responses , which could make greater change in behavior than we ever realize . All of which leads to the interrogative : Just how much is this parasite see people ’s mind ?
The Atlantic has a gripping history about the new researchon T. gondii , including a profile of Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr , who was long marginalized for beliefs that are starting to become irrefutable . The clause begins :
No one would criminate Jaroslav Flegr of being a conformist . A self - described “ baggy chest , ” the 63 - year - honest-to-god Czech scientist has the contemplative air of someone habitually lose in sentiment , and his still - youthful , straight - jawed face is frame by frizzy red hair that circle his head like a pack of flak .
Certainly Flegr ’s intellection is jarringly improper . Starting in the other 1990s , he start out to suspect that a single - celled parasite in the protozoan class was subtly manipulate his personality , causing him to acquit in unusual , often self - destructive elbow room . And if it was messing with his brain , he reasoned , it was probably doing the same to others .
The sponger , which is excreted by khat in their feces , is call Toxoplasma gondii ( T. gondii or Toxo for short ) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis - the reason pregnant women are distinguish to avoid cats ’ litter boxes . Since the 1920s , medico have recognized that a cleaning woman who becomes infected during maternity can channel the disease to the fetus , in some cases result in severe brain damage or death . T. gondii is also a major menace to hoi polloi with weakened immunity : in the early 24-hour interval of the AIDS epidemic , before good antiretroviral drug were develop , it was to blame for the dementedness that afflicted many patients at the disease ’s destruction stage . Healthy children and adults , however , usually know nothing bad than abbreviated grippe - like symptom before quickly fighting off the protozoan , which thereafter lies sleeping inside brain cells - or at least that ’s the received medical wisdom .
But if Flegr is right , the “ latent ” parasite may be quietly fine-tune the connections between our neuron , changing our response to fearful situations , our trust in others , how outgoing we are , and even our preference for certain scents . And that ’s not all . He also believe that the organism bestow to car crashes , self-annihilation , and genial disorder such as schizophrenia . When you bring up all the different path it can harm us , says Flegr , “ Toxoplasma might even obliterate as many people as malaria , or at least a million people a year . ”
The whole affair is well worth reading . [ The Atlantic ]
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