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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.
...then I'm no longer filled with self-loathing.
If you post it, they will read.
... this explains why cats are taking over teh world.
....to own a dog instead of a cat.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
In rodents, animals seemingly lose their inhibitions, becoming more exploratory and losing their aversion to cat odours.
I think this applies to humans as well. By infecting humans with this T. gondii parasite, humans have the ability to clean cat stinky waste products with no issues whatsoever, thus ensla^H^H^H^H^H employing them as their staff.
So the lady on the Simpsons that throws cats at people was just schizo from cat parasites.
IMHO, if T.gondii is hosted by 2 billion people worldwide, then it's rather a human parasite than a "cat parasite".
Just sterilize the lot of them and let this be the last generation of house cats, it's not fucking worth it.
Maybe in the future we can breed some species which are immune.
It's permanent, some treatments can help against latent cases but they only use it for AIDS patients.
After all, how many mind-altering cats are there, really?
It explains the Crazy Cat Ladies.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
This insight has been around for two decades or so.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
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.
I got space maaaaadddddnesssss!
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
>> In rodents, animals seemingly lose their inhibitions, becoming more exploratory and losing their aversion to cat odours.
Huh.. One can see how adaptive evolution would favor cats who can put the parasite out there without being affected by it themselves. Cats benefit when rodents get daring in their presence. More significantly, it also makes humans crave their presence and care for them, if only in a very basic sense. Now that's an effective adaptation!
Nerds just love talking about this thing. Maybe because they wish they were living out a Star Trek episode ...
It couldn't be that cats are just cute or anything. Like, you, dogs, which people fuss over in exactly the same way.
And my cats say that you could have copied that part of TFA which is relevant to the title. Nowhere in your article does it mention even the word schizophrenia or the connection they claim to have found except the clickbait opening paragraph. Quit smoking weed
If 2 billion people has it and most of them has no problems, it might be beneficial to us.
Oh, but it gets better. Some years ago I went to a lecture given by a biology researcher at a well known evil university. The dude's talk was pretty cool, but the really interesting part came at the very end. The researcher mentioned: oh yeah, all of my research is funded by the army, because they hope to engineer a biological weapon based on the toxo parasite.