Parasites Makes Us Dumber or Sexier

odie_q writes "It has long been known that the Toxoplasma gondii parasite alters its host's behavior, but now it seems the way it alters it depends on the sex of the host. From the article: 'A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an Australian researcher says ... Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women. On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.'"

Finally!

A scientific explaination of Jocks and blondes.

Pish Tosh

The whole thing sounds like a load of cat crap to me.

Ah HA!

So THAT's what happened to me. Suddenly everything makes sense, and it's all Smokey's fault.

Mod Parent +5 Funny

For those who didn't RTFA, one of the ways of catching this disease is by accidentally digesting cat feces (if the cat is effected with the bacteria). Smokey is a fairly common name for a grey cat here in the States.

Re:Mod Parent +5 Funny

Actually, Toxoplasma gondii is a eukaryote [wikipedia.org] and is not a bacteria.

thought this was interesting

combined with the extremely high incidence of human infection in both developing and developed countries

fits with old "hot blooded" stereo types.

Parasite?

They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women.

Hum, if you add "addicted to an internet news site" it would perfectly match the Slashdot syndrome.

Re:Parasite?

A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid

So that's what they're calling alcohol these days, is it?

Nah, would it?

Do you think HR will buy my parasite excuse for what I did to that girl? I know where to get a phony doctor note [alibinetwork.com].

What are the odds...

What are the odds that guys with low IQs, short attention spans, and an affinity for risks are just more likely to eat undercooked meat, and that the more outgoing promiscuous women catch it because of them.

Re:

The article states that mice alter their behavior when exposed to the parasite. They then alter their behavior back when treated with drugs that kill the parasite.

Re:What are the odds...

Sorry, bad formatting, let's try this again...

How do you like your steak? Unless your answer is "well done", you are at greater risk for toxoplasmosis than any cat owner.

From wikipedia: "The most common means of transmission to humans is raw or undercooked meat."

Further, based on research it is *extremely* unlikely that you could pick up this parasite from casual contact with cats. Handling cat feces and not washing your hands? Sure. Petting a cat? No way.

From wikipedia: "Although the pathogen has been detected on the fur of cats, it has not been found in an infectious form, and direct infection from handling cats is generally believed to be very rare."

Further, cats must contract the disease from somewhere and are only infectious for a brief period right after contracting the disease. Which means that indoor cats that don't have access to infected prey can't get the disease (except by other transmission methods which are the same for humans). Or, if your cat already has toxoplasmosis, it means that it can't transmit the parasite to you (except for that brief period right after infection.

From wikipedia: "Cats excrete the pathogen in their faeces for a number of weeks after contracting the disease, generally by eating an infected rodent. Even then, cat faeces are not generally contagious for the first day or two after excretion, after which the cyst 'ripens' and becomes potentially pathogenic. Studies have shown that only about 2% of cats are shedding at any one time, and that shedding does not recur even after repeated exposure to the parasite."

Further, the disease *is* treatable. The cysts are resistant to common forms of treatment for parasites (antibiotics). However, there are treatments available which seem to eliminate the cysts.

From wikipedia: "The antibiotic atovaquone has been used to kill Toxoplasma cysts in situ in AIDS patients.[3] In mice, a combination of atovaquone with clindamycin seemed to optimally kill cysts."

Here is a link to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis [wikipedia.org]

Every time a toxoplasmosis article comes up, someone will make a post like this, saying that *for them* cat ownership is simply too risky. This, of course, completely ignores the reality of the situation, where cat ownership is actually far less risky than eating, where mishandling of food or "undercooked" meat (may I be the first to say, yum!) are far more likely to score you an infectious parasite.

Please inform yourself and stop spouting this trollish bullshit.

Taft

Goa'uld tag...

Wheres the damn Goa'uld tag when you need it?

Re:Goa'uld tag...

Saving some of us a click. [wikipedia.org]

George W. Bush

Seriously. He used to be quite articulate. I just saw a youtube snippet of him talking fast, articulate, and using big words in the mid 90's. It was like a different man. Something changed him into a stubburn bumbler. Some speculate drug abuse, but everyone around him says he swore off substance abuse decades ago.

Interesting effects, interesting causes

I found this piece of news very interesting. Is it known how the parasite affects our behavior? If it secretes a chemical that has the effect, I'd say this could be used for treatment in a variety of medical conditions. If it "attacks" specific areas of the brain, it may reveal interesting things about it.

Things such as this hints to how our minds work, which is possibly one of the most fascinating things in the universe (:

Beer == Parasite ???

'A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid,...

I get the same parasite whenever I go to the pub.

Bicamerial mind breakdown

Maybe it is the next phase, of mind evolution? Snowcrash popularized tower of babel, where humans evolved through infection by a meta-virus, that had real life counterpart with same effects(Nam-shub evolution into real world). The virus broke down barriers between clearly separated brain parts and made them more equal in reasoning on how to behave.
links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_Conscio usness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_Bicameral_Mind [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash [wikipedia.org]

Also if you haven't read snow crash, you must do so immediately. ;)

Re:Bicamerial mind breakdown

"The virus broke down barriers between clearly separated brain parts and made them more equal in reasoning on how to behave"

The barriers are required for consciousness as your first link clearly describes. If you want to see what the world looks like without the barriers then injest some psilocybe. You won't actually be doing any reasoning though. The next true phase of mind evolution will be the combination of computers with the brain, as to how that will happen, I don't know.

Yeah sure

I can deal with being stupider as long as I can play the holophoner.

But can we play the holophone?

• break rules and take risks...check
• independent...check
• anti-social...suck it
• suspicious...who wants to know?
• jealous...check...but not as jealous as you
• morose...check
• deemed less attractive to women...posting on /. on Fri night...check

So how come I can't play the holophone [futurama-madhouse.com.ar]?

Remember, kids!

Correlation != causation.

Even since the last time this came up, I haven't seen anything done to differentiate between "symptoms of infection" and "traits of average cat owners."

Re:

Wow, thanks for the science lesson!

Actually, real science is done by noting correlations, hypothesizing a mechanism that explains the correlation, and testing it.

The researchers have tested the mechanism. RTFA.

Re:

I don't see any correlation between Crazy Cat Lady and being more attractive. So there's your proof.

Re:

Actually, I don't see why that particular effort would help. Obviously, being a cat owner would be a risk factor (assuming you were exposed to the cat's feces during the period when it is infectious, which is a few weeks after the cat is infected, so I gat

Re:

Actually, if you want to bring up Occam's Razor, what about the explanation that the parasite merely makes both sexes stupider, and the higher attractiveness in women is because men like stupid (ditzy) women.

Think about it.

Re:Remember, kids!

Remember, kids! RTFA!

The article clearly states that the changed behaviour could be seen after infecting the mice with toxoplasmose and be reversed by treating the infection. So we have something that looks a lot more like a causation and less a pure correlation (with currently unknown relation).

Woops.... Time to get off the Toxoplasma diet

And all this time I thought I was getting sexier.

Ahh Toxoplasma gondii

I believe this is one of those news stories that sits around waiting for a slow news day. The original paper was released in November. It's written by Kevin Lafferty [usgs.gov] and was published in Proc. Roy. Soc. B [royalsoc.ac.uk].

It's a really quite fascinating paper - I recommend tracking it down if you can get access. Here's how it goes: Toxoplasmia gondii is adapated to live in cats and reproduces in felid intestinal cells & is shed, encysted, in their feaces. Then it can directly infect cats who come into contact with the cysts, or it encysts in brains of smaller mammals, and moves up the food chain as they get eaten until it hits a cat, and can reproduce again.

Fascinatingly, T.g. appears to affect rodent behavior to increase predation risk - i.e. the rodents become more active, less fearful of cat/cat smells, and have increased dopamine levels (which supposedly leads to novelty seeking behavior and neuroticism-type behaviors, or at least, they do in humans).

Despite humans not having any major cat predators, it could still affect us as a byproduct type of thing. Particularly that whole dopamine increase - this is should increase neuroticism levels.

So - the big question - does prevalence of T.g. correlate with cultural variation in neuroticism in humans? Lafferty finds a fairly strong correlation ( r2 of 0.38 ) between population aggregate neuroticism (as measured by the fairly standard NEO PI-R [wikipedia.org] personality inventory ).

Unfortunately I think the populations he uses for his stats are a little bit suspect (always the problem with worldwide analyses though), but it's definitely worth a read. You should also keep in mind that so far it's only an interesting correlation and not a direct demonstration that T.g. causes large scale cultural differences.

Re:

Lafferty finds a fairly strong correlation ( r2 of 0.38 ) ...

Only in the social "sciences". Anywhere else, an r2 less than 0.95 is considered unimpressive, and 0.38 would definitely be "poor".

Re:Ahh Toxoplasma gondii

You have been infected with a rare and deadly disease. A new drug has become available. In clinical trials, if people are left untreated (control group), only 31% survive and the rest die. If they are given the drug, 69% survive. Do you take the drug, or ignore it because its effects are "unimpressive"? Because that example expresses an effect size of r=0.38 [nih.gov].

The "anywhere else" you refer to is in areas of science that deal with deterministic phenomena. In many areas of social science, medicine, and other fields, the phenomena are probabilistic, and effect sizes are judged accordingly.

Jesus, women are lucky

Is there any parasite that makes MEN more attractive?

As if we didn't have enough biological disadvantages in the mating game, this one is nature's way of applying the final curb stomp.

Re:Jesus, women are lucky

"Is there any parasite that makes MEN more attractive?

Yes, but she will take all your stuff.

Where can I get it?

Based on the description, this parasite will turn that ugly girl next door into a hot, promiscuous girl who might stop pepper spraying me! Sign me up for two!

Re:Where can I get it?

You've already got it. That's why she's pepper-spraying you...

Written by a woman?

"A common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid"
What do you mean by more stupid?

Re:Written by a woman?

There is even proof at wikipedia
Can't resist:

      Toxo makes girls sexy - Wikipedia confirms it!

      What does netcraft have to say, btw?

Marketing challenge

...infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men

Perhaps it's just me, but my first thought after reading the summary was that the best and brightest the world of cosmetics marketing has to offer are probably working on the advertising campaign right now. "New, from L'Oreal: toxoplasmosis, the only parasite derived from cat shit that's /guaranteed/ to make you MORE ATTRACTIVE to the opposite sex. Because you're worth it!"...

Given the crap they already get women to shell out fifty quid for a couple of ounces, parasite-infected cat shit would be a relatively easy sell.

Great Pickup Line

Damn you're sexy, you have parasites don't you ?

FTA

It doesn't look to me as this is a terminal illness, the infection is gone in a few weeks to months, so it's hardly an explanation for the world's stupidity.

Re:FTA

It doesn't look to me as this is a terminal illness, the infection is gone in a few weeks to months, so it's hardly an explanation for the world's stupidity.

It can be lethal if you have a weakened immune system due to age, chemo, HIV, whatever. BTW- it may persist as a low-grade infestation even in healthy people. The same as many other infections like syphilis, Lyme Disease, and even chickenpox - the initial symptoms of infection may go away but the pathogen stays in the body and causes mayhem a few years or even decades later.

-b.

infected women tend to be more .. promiscuous

I, for one, welcome our new Toxoplasmosis overlords.

Behavioral results inconsistent with mechanism

If the parasite works by increasing dopamine levels in the brain, that would most certainly not decrease attention span or reaction time, it would in fact improve them, as can be seen when you take any dopaminergic drug. Higher dopamine doesn't hinder academic achievement, nor will it lower your IQ. That is ridiculous-- most of the mental benefits from cardiovascular exercise come from increased DA levels. Further, the effects of dopamine are not so sexually dimorphic in humans, the only real difference is that estrogen increases DA sensitivity. The archetypal drugs for increasing DA levels? Ritalin and Adderall.

These are low quality studies and an abomination of science to conclude that correlation = causation. Nothing is further from the truth! The main way toxoplasma is spread in humans is in eating undercooked meat. Considering the actual effects of dopamine on the brain, doesn't it seem more likely that perhaps a low IQ, low educational achievement, and risk taking/promiscuous behavior predispose one to eat or undercook meat? But even that is untested.

good news everyone?

First thing I thought while reading the title was "hey great more Futurama news!"

I need to

Get my wife a cat!

Toxoplasmosis linked to schizophrenia?

I remember reading a few months ago that some reseachers had a found a higher incidence of schizophrenia among persons who, when small children, had had cats in their households, leading some to believe that Toxoplasmosis gondii may be a causal factor. Apparently, it is claimed that new research has confirmed this [schizophrenia.com]. This is of personal interest to me because my 14 year-old son was infected by Toxoplasmosis a couple years ago during a vist to Trinidad. Physicians suspect that the most likely source was my wife's aunt's home-made yogurt, which my kids love. My wife's aunt is an animal lover, and keeps numerous dogs and cats, as well as feeding hosts of wild birds that descend on the house every morning.

It was discovered after he complained about spots in his vision, and an opthalmological determined that there was a lesion on his retina which was flaking away. A blood test confirmed the presence of Toxoplasmosis gondii. Now he has to have an annual examination to ensure that the parasite is being kept under control by antibiotics, but it's always an extremely apprehensive time for us.

It all started when I ate that toilet sandwich

I can't believe nobody's made the obvious and obligatory Futurama reference [tv.com].

Re:So long, Saddam you worthless shit

Clearly, this is a textbook case of toxoplasmosis. You should keep your hands out of the litter box.

Re: it belongs to frylock

Hey oog, make sure to give back the OoGhiJ MIQtxxXA super computer before hurling yourself off the tall building.

Re:

A parasite that might be able to change my behaviour.

A lot of them do. For example, Enterobius vermicularis will have you scratching your butt all day and all night. I supect that this behaviour will render you definitely UNSEXY to m