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Mind-Altering Cat Parasite Linked To Schizophrenia in Largest Study Yet (sciencealert.com)
Scientists claim they have found new evidence of a link between infection with the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, and schizophrenia, in what is described as the largest study of its kind. From a report: T. gondii, a brain-dwelling parasite estimated to be hosted by at least 2 billion people around the world, doesn't create symptoms in most people who become infected -- but acute cases of toxoplasmosis can be dangerous. Healthy adults are generally thought to not be at risk from T. gondii infections, but children or people with suppressed immune systems can develop severe flu-like symptoms, in addition to blurred vision and brain inflammation.
Pregnant women need to be careful too, as the parasite can cause foetal abnormalities or even miscarriage. Aside from the known physiological dangers, however, the stranger and more ambiguous risks associated with the parasite remain largely hypothetical -- although a huge body of research suggests something weird is going on. Causation remains very much disputable, but the brain-dwelling parasite -- commonly carried by cats and present in their faeces -- has been linked to a huge host of behaviour-altering effects.
Virtually all warm-blooded animals are capable of being infected, and when T. gondii gets inside them, unusual things happen. In rodents, animals seemingly lose their inhibitions, becoming more exploratory and losing their aversion to cat odours.
Pregnant women need to be careful too, as the parasite can cause foetal abnormalities or even miscarriage. Aside from the known physiological dangers, however, the stranger and more ambiguous risks associated with the parasite remain largely hypothetical -- although a huge body of research suggests something weird is going on. Causation remains very much disputable, but the brain-dwelling parasite -- commonly carried by cats and present in their faeces -- has been linked to a huge host of behaviour-altering effects.
Virtually all warm-blooded animals are capable of being infected, and when T. gondii gets inside them, unusual things happen. In rodents, animals seemingly lose their inhibitions, becoming more exploratory and losing their aversion to cat odours.
While the cats are the primary host for toxoplasmosis, the main source of transmission in your country is raw meat and unwashed fruits and vegetables.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
It's permanent, some treatments can help against latent cases but they only use it for AIDS patients.
Toxoplasmosis has a life cycle that includes cats and their prey. It reproduces inside the cat's digestive system and comes out in their crap. Since cats don't eat crap and generally stay away from crap, it has found a clever way to get back into a cat's digestive system. It infects cats' prey, such as rodents, and makes them far less afraid of cats and cat odors. Which makes them far more likely to be eaten by cats. The parasite apparently has no effect on cats, but it has psychoactive effects on the other hosts.
Since it's psychoactive, it's not surprising that it has such effects on humans.
This is similar to the rabies virus, which causes dogs to bite anything and everything (the virus is present in saliva) and actually has the same effect on humans. In humans, the end result is hallucinations, confusion, and aggression - probably what dogs are going through before they die of rabies.
Do you have ESP?
The active infection is fairly easy to treat, but there is no known way yet to eradicate the latent, encysted infection.
Psychiatric researchers have known about this problem for a while, and they've even done a few controlled trials to see if schizophrenics etc. improve when given anti-toxoplasma agents. The trials were all failures. As more than one reviewer has pointed out, the failures were not surprising, because the anti-toxo agents are known to be ineffective against latent infection.