Slashdot Mirror
Cat Parasite May Increase Risk of Suicide In Humans
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the University of Maryland analyzing meticulous data collected by Danish authorities have identified a positive correlation between suicides among women with infection with the fairly common parasite T. gondii. Carriers were 53 percent more likely to commit suicide in a sample of 45,000 Danish women monitored for over a decade (researchers believe that the same correlation likely exists for men). Increased susceptibility to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder was also discovered. The physiological mechanism has not been determined, although some speculation centers around changes to dopamine levels. Two intriguing aspects were noted: 1) human infection often (but not always) begins by exposure to cats carrying the parasite, for example, by changing an infected animal's litter; and 2) the parasite spreads itself by infecting the nervous system of rodents, causing them to become suicidally attracted to feline odors which will increase the likelihood of their hosts being eaten by cats, whose digestive tracts provide the preferred environment for parasite reproduction."
sure, this looks like valid research, until you see the citations
Resurch dun by Carnegie Meloncat Institute fellows:
Hovercat
Longcat
Dunecat
with speshul thx 2 cieling cat hoo make all tings possible
Emo music sales soar 10.000%.
The first stage in the evolution of the Gou'ald has begun.
Lolcats, schrödinger's zombiecats, misfortune-bringers of doom, spreading of mind controlling suicide parasites.. I fear cats more than any quoran toting goofball out there. It is time for someone to do something.
...but it's still okay to eat cats, right?
The article is about human infections, so you might want to avoid eating humans. If you get infected, it will lower the dopamine level in your brain, and then you will get hungry for . . . another human brain . . .
. . . I think I just figured out how the Zombie Apocalypse thing will start . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Do the crazy cat ladies have cats because they are crazy, or are they crazy because they have cats?
The parasite also causes decreased sexual inhibition. Translation: It makes women sluttier. No corresponding effect was found in men. Of course, this effect isn't as widely documented for obvious political reasons...
That is because in men there is no sexual inhibition to effect.
You mean "purr-fect" this virus, eh?
Sure there is. It's just that rather than being controlled by the brain, it's governed by an external organ known variously as a "wife," "girlfriend," or, in the case of Slashdotters, "mother."
As it should be. Now if we could start pushing the one true Imperial unit system. Keep the faith brothers.
Wash your hands.
If you are a cat owner, and you can't handle the simple fact that you are dealing with feces and vomit every day without a proper hygiene protocol, something has already gone wrong.
I've got cats and I don't handle their feces every day. I let my neighbourds do that when the cats go and crap in their rosebeds.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it