Cat Parasite May Increase Risk of Suicide In Humans 252
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."
Are they sure it's not just "women with cats" (Score:1, Funny)
Crazy cat women.
So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:5, Funny)
...but it's still okay to eat cats, right? I mean, as long as you avoid the digestive organs?
don't trust em (Score:5, Funny)
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
Terrorist Weapon? (Score:4, Funny)
(obligatory)
But what if terrorists find a way to use this?
Re:Terrorist Weapon? (Score:5, Funny)
Emo music sales soar 10.000%.
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:2, Funny)
Either way this explains Caturday.
Re:So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:3, Funny)
The Origin? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Terrorist Weapon? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:5, Funny)
...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 . . .
Zombie Virus (Score:5, Funny)
Once the cats perfect this virus it's all over...
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Zombie Virus (Score:5, Funny)
You mean "purr-fect" this virus, eh?
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:4, Funny)
"Do the crazy cat ladies have cats because they are crazy, or are they crazy because they have cats?"
Yes.
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:5, Funny)
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."
Re:Kill all cats. (Score:2, Funny)
And how many have you seen before they popped out? I know I tried looking but no matter how much I stretched my wife I just couldn't see them...
Didn't you go to any of your wife's ultrasounds during her pregnancy?
Or do you live in the USA or other country with 3rd world medical care?
Re:Are they sure it's not just "women with cats" (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, I'm a crazy cat MAN, you insensitive chauvinist clod!
Re:So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:4, Funny)
Alf, is that you?
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:5, Funny)
...but it's still okay to eat cats, right?
I have actually eaten cat. Many years ago, I was in the red light district of Panama City (Fourth of July Street) with some fellow jarheads, and some guy had a "monkey" roasting on a spit. So we each bought a slice. We were eating as we walked along, and I noticed a young woman laughing at us. I asked her what was so funny.
She smiled asked "Do you know what you are eating?"
"Monkey meat."
"Nope. It's an alley cat."
Anyway, it tasted like chicken.
Re:The chicken and egg problem all over again (Score:5, Funny)
Q: What do Slashdotters use for birth control?
A: Their mothers!
Re:Correlation != causation (Score:5, Funny)
Not to mention the fact that attraction to feline odors is only suicidal to humans when we run into burning buildings to try and retrieve our kitties from underneath the bed, and emerge with second-degree burns and major laceration wounds (burns from the fire, laceration wounds from... well, nevermind. Our little kitty is safe. Pissed, but he'll get over that as soon as we give him some tuna.)
Re:Terrorist Weapon? (Score:5, Funny)
As it should be. Now if we could start pushing the one true Imperial unit system. Keep the faith brothers.
Re:Terrorist Weapon? (Score:2, Funny)
I guess the grandparent just wanted us to know that it is 10% accurate to +- 0.0004%
Re:So cats contract it by eating rodents... (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Correlation != causation (Score:3, Funny)
Take one example: Americans gorging themselves on McDonald's
Even Americans we know that there's more to life than McDonalds.
For example, there's Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts and all sorts of other places.