Slashdot Mirror
Mind Control Parasites in Half of All Humans
iiii writes "According to a Yahoo News
story, half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma,
a parasite shown to alter the brain function of rats, inducing them into behavior that benefits the parasite but is suicidal for the rat. So what affect does it have on humans? Article comes complete with Heinlein 'Puppet Masters' reference. I call dibs on using Toxoplasma as a name for my rock band."
Insert Political/religious/OS statement here.
Really should be more insightful than funny, but that's not for me to decide.
I for one have ALREADY welcomed our parasitic overlords.
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
Shhhhh, be quiet! Don't give DARPA any idea!
I wonder how many people are going to blame their inability to work harder (if at all) on this parasite on Monday.
HYPNOGERMS!!!
...of God's Intelligent Design(TM) here on Earth!!
'Mind control parasites':
...
...)
'Toxoplasma'? I thought they were called politicians
(if only it was _only_ half of all humans
-wb-
I favor unreasonably huge subsidies to the brain slug planet.
Does it happen to affect 51% of Americans?
... and then they built the supercollider.
There's already a German punk band called Toxoplasma.
These aren't the parasites you are looking for.
liqbase
Its no wonder so many are infected.
Us males can't stop licking pussy!
liqbase
All the posts so far seem to be joking about this, but it sorta freaks me out!
It seems to be strong evidence that parasites can control the behavior of a host in fairly complex ways, which opens up alot of sci-fi movies for a real life encore.
Anyone familiar with these parasites in more detail? Any information? Are there other parasites that humans have that do cause changes of behavior?
How do these things evolve? Are they complex lifeforms, or very very simple?
Big ones, small ones, some as big as yer 'ead!
Give 'em a twist, a flick o' the wrist...
...or at least it doesn't matter. Toxoplasma has been around and known for a long time. The only real news is that infection rates are *down* (from something like 90% iirc not so long ago) because humans are spending less and less quality time with rodents. This mostly concerns pregnant women, who risk losing their fetus if the *catch* toxoplasma during the pregnancy. So it is far better to be part of the 50% who is already infected so that your antibodies are prepped. So yeah, move along.
Congratulations! Now we are the Evil Empire
Or not. From the Wikipedia:
Toxoplasma gondii is a species of parasitic protozoa that lives in cats and other warm-blooded animals and can cause the disease toxoplasmosis in humans. It belongs to the Apicomplexa and is the only known member of the genus Toxoplasma.
and under "Toxoplasmosis"
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. It infects most animals and causes human parasitic diseases, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. People usually get infected by eating raw or undercooked meat, or more rarely, by contact with cat faeces.
At least one third of the world population may have contracted a toxoplasmosis infection in their lifetime but, after the acute infection has passed, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, people with a weakened immune system are particularly susceptible, such as people infected with HIV. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases and can affect the heart, liver, and eyes (chorioretinitis).
Much less interesting than TFA's speculation based on Toxoplasma's pathology in rats, but more credible.
What's more, TFA does not give any indication about how they came up with the "half the human population" figure.
Posted AC to avoid charges of Wikipedia-karma-whoring.
Is the article implying that it's NOT normal for someone to seek out cat urine-marked areas in one's house???
Look on the brightside. At least we know now what's driving the current administration.
Since toxoplasma makes rats unafraid of or even like cat urine, I think it's all a diabolical scheme by the cats. I used to think cats only tolerated us until they could figure out how to operate a can-opener, but now I've realised its a much more cunning scheme - to make humans the slaves of cats!
Old ladies are obviously the most affected after a lifetime of exposure, but its only a matter of time before we all become food suppliers and grooming slaves to our cat overlords. Just look what happens to people when you show them pictures of fluffy kittens, they go all gooey and unable to think straight - my girlfriend is a typical example, she defends her cats against any criticism, because they're so 'cute'.
We must act now, while some of us can still see what the cats are up to. We must destroy the cat menace!
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
The term "bio-rootkit" is not one I wish to see in common usage!
It's not toxoplasma, it's midi-chlorians! Lucas sucks.
And don't forget those worms in Africa the tunnel through living human flesh, causing burning pain to make the host seek water for relief; only to continue it's life cycle. I heard recently that a type of virus may be linked to obesity; like the bactiria linked with ulcers.
However, cause and effect may be reversed; perhaps the virus likes fatty foods (fat humans); and perhaps that bactiria prefers the chemical balance in a bleeding stomach. But this is good research; seeing that elimiating the parasite from the rats changes behavior.
But, for the ultimate in behavior changing infections, you only have to look at your own mouth. Language. and the other aspects of human "culture"... "culture" is an interesting word, in that it can refer to fashionable art; or parasitical organisms.
Really, humans are not much more than hosts for self replicating information. everything from the English language to Hula Hoops. I bet if you imagine living forever inside a machine; you probably think of your 'mind' being preserved; instead of a machine that pumps fluids through a mindless body (insert Republican joke here)
All that being a Funny, Japanese-Speaking, Mozart-loving, Cat-loving, Slashdot-reading fellow is, is a combinatation of contaigous memes.
There is some evidence that the parasite is manipulating his intemediate host's(rodents) behaviour to end up in the final host: cats. Cat droppings spread it again to rodents nearby. This mechanism has two species that benefit from it (the parasite and the cat), so it is likely this interaction reinforces itself.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Oh my god, this is a scientific explaination for the crazy cat lady phenomenon... I'm serious RTFA!!!
Cecil Adams wrote a article discussing toxoplama's effect on birth defects and schizophrenia, including the possibility that toxoplasma floods the human brain with LSD.
C'mon guys, this isn't a duplicate story. This one is referring to the other half of the population. The truth is that we're all infected. ;-)
There are 10 kinds of people; those who know ternary, those who don't, and those now hunting for a dictionary.
Toxoplasma is actually the eggs for body thetans. If you do not want to believe this, read this link
The earth is a battlefield, my friend. I'm going to get audited errrr tested.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
A citation from the article: T. gondii cyst infection appeared to decrease novelty seeking behaviors and reduce psycho-motor intelligence in men.
For a minute there, I thought the article was talking about women...
eTrade SUCKS
Most women are cat lovers. ;)
Most men will say most women are schizo.
The prosecution rests your honor.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Saving the World: One Drink at a Time
What makes mind control interesting, that is not usually thought of, is awareness of it. Since our brain is controlling everything we do, altering its functioning would propably go unnoticed. In movies characters usually try to fight againts mind control and even in everyday thoughts we imagine mind control to be something that is againts our will. When you think of it a bit further, you might notice that what mind control actually does, is make our emotions balanced in the way that we actually want to do what it wants us to do. As stated in the article, rats repeatedly did things againts logical behaviour. Now, if you think how many of your actions is based on logic and how many on emotions, you might be able to guess my point.
But then again, this is just my theory. I hope your can prove it wrong. Only variable that would definately prove it wrong, would be existence of a soul. It would provide us something that can't be affected by change of chemical balance in brain. But more likely is that each and every one of us is under some kind of mind control. Everything affects our emotions, from food to movies, regardless of if it resides physically in our brain or affects through our senses.
Every day, I wake up. I get a drink and read the paper, I check my blog feed, and then I look at Slashdot. Across the board I see headlines like "Microsoft hires person X" and "GM cuts this and that" and "Drought in Borneo" and "Economic growth at risk". Or even the supreme dullness indicator, the dreaded "trade summit".
Suffice it to say I've been waiting to see a headline like "brain-controlling parasites control 50% of the human population" for a long time. Thank you, Slashdot editors.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Stop to think about that for a second.
This has profound implications far beyond the childish and disappointing messages listed above.
Haldol and an antimicrobial have the same effect on Toxoplasm infected human tissue. Even the implcations in this are staggering -- regardless of whether this pans out or not. Million's of people worldwide could be saved a tortous life, higher suicide rates, due to a pathogenic cause (and cure) of a mental illness. Don't dismiss that mother's with this are more likely to have kids that develop schizophrenia.
An australian recently won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering that a bacteria was responsible for the majority of stomach ulcers. What used to be a life long and potential dangerous disease is now cured with weeklong course of antibiotics.
This facinating discovery deserves more respect than it has gotten on slashdot.
All your base ... nah..
Half your heads are belong to them.
Half the worlds population is infected with a mind controlling parasite which causes a 2.65 times increase in traffic accidents. This could be one of the most underestimated killers on the planet.
....
See the results of the study here:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/2/11
"Increased risk of traffic accidents in subjects with latent toxoplasmosis: a retrospective case-control study
Human latent toxoplasmosis leads to prolongation of reaction times [11] and changes in personality profiles [12,13]. These changes are probably side effects either of the rodent-aimed manipulative activity of Toxoplasma or of some pathogenic activity of the parasites in the brain. The changes cannot influence the risk of predation in modern humans; nevertheless, prolongation of reaction times could increase the risk of other incidents such as traffic accidents. If this is true then the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in participants in traffic accidents should be higher than in the general population living in the same area.
Here we report the results of retrospective case-control study that compares the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in persons injured in traffic accidents with the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in general population living in the same area.
The value of the odds ratio (OR) suggests that subjects with latent toxoplasmosis had a 2.65 (C.I.95= 1.76-4.01) times higher risk of a traffic accident than the toxoplasmosis-negative subjects. "
Before we get too carried away, note that the numbers indicate the number of people with the antibodies to toxoplasma gondii, not the number of people with active infection. Antibodies just mean you have been infected at some point in your life - and the mental status changes seem to be primarily in those infected as infants or born to infected mothers. This connects well with the known etiology of toxoplasmosis, and is why the MD tells your pregnant wife/girlfriend/mom to stay away from cats.
Still, it is really interesting how many diseases have been found recently to be of infectious etiology - ulcers (no, it's not the pizza), many forms of heart disease, and now possibly some forms of schizophrenia. Makes prevention at least plausible...
Using plain ol' text since 1968
As it turns out the Times reported on this matter some time ago (unfortunately they have taken down the article...however ... appear to exhibit the "sex kitten" effect, becoming less trustworthy, more desirable, fun-loving and possibly more promiscuous. ... [They] spent more money on clothes and were consistently rated as more attractive. ... By contrast, the infected men appeared to suffer from the "alley cat" effect: becoming less well groomed undesirable loners who were more willing to fight. They were more likely to be suspicious and jealous. "They tended to dislike following rules," Flegr said.
it reported the work of Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University Prague...
From the report in the times:
[Infected] women
Check this for more info.
My guess is that people who are allergic to cats are, most likely, NOT infected.
.... well, different, from the rest of us? As if they don't fit in to the system. ... ...
Ever notice how people who are allergic to cats are
Let me introduce you to Ceti Alpha V's only remaining indigenous life form; what do you think? They've killed twenty of my people, including my beloved wife. Oh, not all at once and not instantly, to be sure. Their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness, paralysis -- and death. These are pets, of course -- not quite domesticated.
That's better! Now: tell me why you are here -- and tell me where I may find James Kirk.
Actually, there is another hypothesized threat from Toxoplasma gondii that is a deadly risk even for people with just a dormant infection. (Toxoplamsa doesn't get eliminated by the immune system; it just goes dormant in cysts in the muscle tissue and brain and continues to effect its host for life.)
Latent toxoplasmosis seems to give people a significantly higher risk of getting in a car accident than people who do not have it. People with latent toxoplasmosis have slower reaction times and a tendency towards more risk-seeking behavior than people without, just like rats with the disease.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
It sure does! From the The Guardian article someone posted earlier in the thread:
Apparently, the countries that have the higher rates of infection tend towards more socialistic governments.
It's good to know California and the rest of the US are recovering from the infection!
Progressivism: Parasites helping parasites to help themselves - to other people's stuff.
There are numerous studies which indicate that latest T. gondii cyst infection produces a noticeable drop in motor skills and intelligence. I wrote an article on this over at K5 a couple weeks ago. One of the comments linked to a study which showed a significant increase in risk of traffic accidents for those with latent T. gondii infection.
/. almost three weeks ago and was rejected within an hour... but that would be off topic.
However, the notion that this is a "mind control" parasite in humans is completely off base. A previous study showed that mice infected with T. gondii had increased risk of cat predation. Researchers believe that may be caused by increased dopamine levels in mouse brains as a result. But that is still speculative.
I could add that I submitted this story to
Hermes Conrad: Onto new business. Today's mission is to go to the brain slug planet.
Dr. Zoidberg: What are we going to do there?
Hermes Conrad: Nothing. Just walk around not wearing a helmet.
Ive read that these parasited are more common in the UK or perhaps we only know of more cases there becuase people are looking harder.
It couldn't simply be because Britain is more full of crazy old cat women than anywhere else, could it?
I get your point, and love my cat, too, but the precautions need to be a bit more than you make out. Cats who "clean up" themselves by licking the fur around their rectum just push the infectious material around their fur. After the saliva dries, T. gondii remains infectious for some time afterwards. Really, pregnant women should wash their hands after handling cats.
That said, nobody should "re-home" an animal just because they're too lazy to take a little extra effort for 9 months, unless you're talking about "re-home" as in "here mom, take care of my cat for a few months and I'll take her back".
I do understand that the chance of becoming infected is low. It's important too to acknowledge that the damage of infection is catastrophic. (Pun fully intended)
Using plain ol' text since 1968
I understand your point, and read the article you link for professional reasons some time ago. When they talk about the relative risk decreasing with time after infection, this poses a significant question - does the infection cause the problem, or does the immune response cause the problem (like arthritis following streptococcal infection)? Also, long latent cysts (again, reference the article you linked) present a diminishing relative risk over time. The study is not designed to determine whether that relative risk decreases to zero.
We do not know that dormant T. gondii infection is a risk in and of itself, because having the cyst form means that you once had the active form. We do know that previous infections present various problems whose severity seems to depend on:
1) Severity of infection
2) Age at which infection started
3) Length of time which has passed since infection
Which provides some circumstantial evidence that the active infection phase causes the majority of problems.
Using plain ol' text since 1968
To label the effects of a parasitic infection on an organ as mind control is an unnecessary distinction. It's simply one of many possible parasitic infections that alter the functioning of the the body. If what we're evaluating is altered behavior, a typical flu offers a more immediate demonstration. Typical flu vicitms will (for a time) become less active, communicate less, etc. I think that what intrigues many about this particular instance is the concept of invisible, "subconscious" control... that something we're not aware of may be nudging us into different thoughts and feelings. This, however, implies that there is some uncorruptable state of free will which one ideally operates within, which simply isn't established. Our thoughts and actions are in situ the result of numerous interactions not apparent to our conscious consideration. We're just along for the ride, parasite or no.
Beyond this, if Toxoplasma gondii infection is indeed so prevelant, it's likely been a factor in the dynamics of human evolution, anyway. Our brains perhaps already assume the potential for such influence in their normal operation.
I've always wondered if the personality differences exhibited in the population are an actual effect of the parasite, or simply a correlation of 'people who like cats also are likely to behave in these ways'. For that, there'd need to be a study comparing infected cat owners with non-infected cat owners (and even then, maybe infection rates rise with other behaviors / cultural things, like not being careful with the litter box)...
;-)
Anyways, given that I'm not a fan of cats, I've always been disturbed by people who fawn over them
Gee, thanks. Was that the parasite talking ;-)
I *do* think there's a difference between regular cat owners, and people who obsess over their felines...it's the latter that I wonder about when stories of mind control parasites come up...
Loving a cat will usually make the cat really mad at you. It could scratch or bite. Also, you could go to jail. In many places it is illegal to love a cat.