Mind-Altering Cat Parasite Linked To a Whole Lot of Neurological Disorders (sciencealert.com) 209
schwit1 shares a report from ScienceAlert: The brain-dwelling parasite Toxoplasma gondii is estimated to be hosted by at least 2 billion people around the world, and new evidence suggests the lodger could be more dangerous than we think. While the protozoan invader poses the greatest risk to developing fetuses infected in the womb, new research suggests the parasite could alter and amplify a range of neurological disorders, including epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's, and also cancer. "This study is a paradigm shifter," says one of the team, neuroscientist Dennis Steindler from Tufts University. "We now have to insert infectious disease into the equation of neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, and neural cancers." The findings are part of an emerging field of research looking into how T. gondii, which is usually transmitted to humans via contact with cat faeces (or by eating uncooked meat), produces proteins that alter and manipulate the brain chemistry of their infected hosts.
Cats (Score:4, Funny)
Thus explaining "crazy cat lady" syndrome.
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Thus explaining "crazy cat lady" syndrome.
All this time we thought that having an undatable personality caused women to collect cats. Apparently we had cause and effect switched.
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And men to post on 4chan.
Re:Cats (Score:4, Interesting)
Apparently we had cause and effect switched.
Perhaps it is not as simple as "cause and effect". It could be a circular effect. About 1 out of every 3 people world-wide is afflicted with toxoplasmosis, but the rate is even higher among cat owners. So it is likely that a majority of these cat owners are infected. Toxoplasmosis changes the behavior of rodents around cats, and makes them less fearful. So it could also affect human feelings for cats. So someone gets a cat, gets infected with toxoplasmosis from that cat, and then gets an urge to get more cats.
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Well, you know what they say. Dogs have owners, cats have servants.
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this is clearly a plot by dog-people and control freaks cos the cat won't do what they say when they say roll over
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I particular, with mice it has been shown that a toxoplasmosis infection causes them to be attracted to the odor of cat urine. Also, IIRC, to be more aggressive. I don't think it causes them to be generally attracted to cats, but the combination of greater attraction to the odor of cat urine and more aggressive tends to put them in harms way. If the cat eats the mouse, then the toxoplasmosis has a chance to reproduce successfully. (IIRC, it can only become sexually mature within a feline gut.)
Since peo
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I don't know about you, but I have an irrational urge to walk up to big kitties and give them scritches. My brain steps in and say 'No they are big, and will eat you'. But, I still want to give the scritches.
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Since people are rarely eaten by lions or leopards anymore the thing has no real basis for adapting to humans
It could be kin selection. A cat is infected with toxoplasmosis. Through it's feces, the human owner is infected. The owner gets an urge to get more cats. Then those cats get infected from rodents infected by the original cat. So the adaption to induce humans to "get more cats" results in the DNA that caused that adaption to be spread through the protozoa's gene pool.
Yes, that's exactly what it explains. No joke. (Score:2)
Thus explaining "crazy cat lady" syndrome.
Yes, that's exactly what it explains. No joke.
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It's not a joke, but it's also not certainly true. It's a plausible hypothesis. Or it may explain parts of the effect.
The best way to tell would be to immunize a sufficient number of "cat ladies" and see whether they reduce the number of cats they give room to compared to a randomly selected control group. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of any way to immunize against toxoplasmosis.
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In general, social anxiety manifests before adulthood -- rarely in old age as cat lady syndrome does.
Re:Cats (Score:4, Insightful)
I've discovered that I vastly prefer the company of cats to most of humanity.
Have you been tested for toxoplasmosis?
Possibly linked. Maybe. (Score:5, Insightful)
"To be clear, the researchers aren't saying the brain parasite is definitively what's behind people developing these debilitating illnesses, but it's possible that T. gondii's protein-based meddling in the brain environment could possibly influence or enable pre-existing susceptibilities in some people to these kinds of diseases."
So, only possibly linked. But maybe not. Bad title.
Re:Possibly linked. Maybe. (Score:5, Interesting)
I did some reading up on toxoplasmosis about a decade ago, when a friend's twenty-something son got mixed up with a crazy woman in her forties who was a classic "crazy cat lady" (except she was not old and she looked and acted like an oversexed teenager). Not much had been published in the medical journals at that time, and I doubt that much has been added since then.
There had been several studies on toxoplasmosis in rats. Some of the findings were that infected rats became greater risk-takers who would explore potentially hostile environments sooner, and more often, than healthy rats. They were attracted to cat urine, where healthy rats avoid that odor. They were more sexually active than uninfected rats.
There was conjecture at that time that "crazy cat ladies" did not experience the odor of cat piss the same way other people did, which is why they tolerated, and sometimes seem to prefer, to live in rooms that reeked of cat piss. There was conjecture that these women were promiscuous and as a group tended to have intense sexual relationships that did not last long. It seemed like as a group they had more automotive crashes than the norm, and that they were more frequently fired for abusing sick leave and other job perks, or fudging the paperwork. These are indicators of a greater degree of risk-taking.
Conclusions: In the specific case, the boy got dumped and the girl moved out of state, so that was resolved. My personal conclusion is to avoid any relationship with women who live with cat stink, or own more than two cats. I will not venture any more general conclusion.
It is a little scary that somewhere between 1 in 5 and 1 in 3 adults tests positive for exposure to T. gondii. However there is no way to determine whether any of these positives is an active carrier, or whether the parasite has gotten into their brain.
Now if I were going to write a zombie apocalypse story, I would probably use a mutant strain of T. gondii as the agent.... But I don't write that kind of story.
Re:Possibly linked. Maybe. (Score:5, Funny)
There was conjecture that these women were promiscuous and as a group tended to have intense sexual relationships that did not last long.
Ok, sold. How do we infect the hot chicks of the planet?
TEH RULES OF TEH INTERWEBS!!! (Score:2)
Ok, sold. How do we infect the hot chicks of the planet?
So now, you finally understand how the internet can both at the same time be
- only for porn [youtu.be]
- only for kitten [tvtropes.org]
You're witnessing our Machiavellian ploy unfold.
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They were more sexually active than uninfected rats.
I guess that explains why nobody has bothered to find a cure for this disease that affects billions of people. Would they want the cure anyway?
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Sounds like you're describing classic symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder; and given my (unfortunate) familiarity with several sufferers (runs in my family) - they seem to share a common trait of hypersensitive smell.
So yes: they all seem to love cats. A lot. And prefer them to humans. (because: you get pure affection, with no complicated human emotional and relational politics). But cat pee? Not the ones I'm familiar with. They absolutely don't tolerate it, and take extra measures to stay on top
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I know nothing about PCOS ---I just now googled to find it is "Polycystic Ovary Syndrome". Since one of the women in my social circle comes down with every estrogen related polysyllabic disease with an abbreviation within a short time of its first appearance on the intarwebs she frequents, I will undoubtedly soon be made familiar with the litany of PCOS' signs and symptoms. If you don't know any women with this particular form of Munchhausen syndrome, I envy you.
But does PCOS lead to the inability to hold
FUD indeed! (Score:3, Insightful)
If this is remotely true, we are well and truly fucked, because it isn't just cats, it's damn near everything.
On the serious side, cook yer gadamned food properly and wash your hands after doing shit like taking a crap, or petting pigs, and then all you'll have to worry about is everything else.
Re: FUD indeed! (Score:1)
If it's that simple, why is the infection so widespread?
Inb4 jokes about the French.
Cats, unlike dogs or pigs, lick themselves all over, including their little cat bottoms (Want to know the
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If it's that simple, why is the infection so widespread?
Because most people practice really poor hygiene.
Cats, unlike dogs or pigs, lick themselves all over, including their little cat bottoms
Dogs also lick their buttholes. Google dog licking it's ass and you'll be treated to a real "treat". And as I noted, many eat their own or other dog's shit. I remember at a pet store years ago, there were two cute little terrier pups in a cage. People were oooh'ing, and aww'ing the little guys, when one gets ready to take a dump, and the other one scaps that tootsie roll up as it's coming out - the turd never hit the floor. Oooh turned to Ewwww! quickly.
An
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That's because dogs are filthy and smell bad.
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Found the infected who doesn't mind cat piss!
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Actually, the reason cat bites are more dangerous is that they are more puncture wounds and less open wounds. The claws are something else, though I wouldn't guess why cat scratch fever happens. Dog scratch fever is unknown because dog scratches rarely break the skin, and when they do it's an open wound.
Bacteria and live in very small spaces, so ordinary cleanliness doesn't suffice for protection. For that we depend on our unbroken skin...which is dead on the outside, and continually sloughed off. And d
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Dogs shit right in the middle of the floor, sidewalk, where ever they please and just leave it there for someone to step in. Cats politely dig a hole out of the way, do their business and cover it up.
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It's not politeness, it's self-interest. Carnivore shit tends to serve as a warning to potential prey, so cats hide it. Simple as that.
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Or they just shit all over the neighbour's lawn. Until that neighbour installs an anti-cat system that squirts a jet of water at them, that works better than lion pee and a myriad of other ant-cat things that don't work.
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Or they just shit all over the neighbour's lawn. Until that neighbour installs an anti-cat system that squirts a jet of water at them, that works better than lion pee and a myriad of other ant-cat things that don't work.
Lion pee isn't supposed to make magically cats go away. It's to warn them a dangerous competitor is around. If it doesn't work for you there are likely two things you are doing wrong:
1) Not using enough or
2) the yard chain is too small.
Try leaving out more water and using a longer chain so it can reach the edges of the yard. Otherwise your lion will be thirsty and unable to catch the cat.
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I used to live in a house that had cats either side and over the back (from the adjoining street).
We had all of them shitting in it. Cat Bosnia.
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Just because it's a good idea, that doesn't mean every carnivore branch has it baked into their genes.
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Our dog is a sporting breed, and has had generations of intelligence bred into her bloodline.
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Aye. Our Canaan prefers heavy palms, deep bushes, or behind a tree as a last resort.
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We don't have most other animals pissing and shitting in the same house as humans though. Even dogs aren't usually treated as intimately as most cats.
You wash your hands. You cook your food. This isn't rocket surgery. And if you have your cat or dog in the house you are even less likely to have a problem.
There are, just as an aside, a fair number of people who use pee-pads for their dogs, and even after they go outside, that's when they can pick the bad stuff up. Some dogs are actually coprophagic, which is a hellava direct route for toxoplamasmosis. Eat an unburied cat turd outside, come in and lick your face? Yummy.
This is so simply avoidable by
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You have a level of trust in "basic hygiene" that I simply don't share, and I can't even imagine how to conduct a study that would prove your thesis directly.
I bet even the most clinically extreme neat freak experiences an unwitting basic hygiene lapse at least once per week.
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You have a level of trust in "basic hygiene" that I simply don't share, and I can't even imagine how to conduct a study that would prove your thesis directly.
I bet even the most clinically extreme neat freak experiences an unwitting basic hygiene lapse at least once per week.
I'm not certain how to reply. Diseases that can spread by contact with people or other animals that require you to transfer the pathogens to your mouth just need a break in the transmission pathway.
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Diseases that can spread by contact with people or other animals that require you to transfer the pathogens to your mouth just need a break in the transmission pathway.
Unless you also have a break in your skin, in which case they'll just take that route. Frequent washing (basic hygiene) dries the skin, creating many breaks, unless you also frequently moisturize (above and beyond basic hygiene); therefore, basic hygiene is not enough and, in fact, too much of it can be detrimental.
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Diseases that can spread by contact with people or other animals that require you to transfer the pathogens to your mouth just need a break in the transmission pathway.
Unless you also have a break in your skin, in which case they'll just take that route. Frequent washing (basic hygiene) dries the skin, creating many breaks, unless you also frequently moisturize (above and beyond basic hygiene); therefore, basic hygiene is not enough and, in fact, too much of it can be detrimental.
Well, as a guy on Slashdot, you can know what you know. Meanwhile, I'll take the CDC's reccommendations. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/... [cdc.gov] I have done what they suggest for years. We cook our meat properly, store it properly, Feed our indoor cats as recommended, I wear nitrile gloves as needed, and despite having cats for the past 40 + years have not contracted Toxoplasmosis.
Is your obstinate stance on this issue possibly related to not liking cats?
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To start, you assumed my gender. Not that I care, I do it all the time, too; but the people who do care are annoying and will tear you a new one over it, so... yeah.
Second, the CDC's recommendations on that page have nothing whatsoever to do with basic hygiene, which is what was being discussed here. Also, I'm not the poster who questioned your trust in basic hygiene (just in case you don't look at usernames) and haven't really been obstinate here. I d n
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There is so damned much wrong with your comment... To start, you assumed my gender. Not that I care, I do it all the time, too; but the people who do care are annoying and will tear you a new one over it, so... yeah.
"Guy" as a admission not of gender, but that I am engaging in an act of communicating with a member of homo sapiens sapiens, is commonly accepted by almost all people I know as a fine way of referring to other people.
As for annoying those folks you mention, that's a good thing in my book. I see male and female sex or gender, and whatever a person wants to do with consenting other adults is not concerning to me. But these people who toss gender around like there is an infinite number of genders, but for
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If you wish to go by the academic definition, rather than the lay definition... Well, first, let me just say I am quite fine with that and, in fact, wish I saw more of that here. I have no argument if that is the difini
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We good?
Of course!
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Your insistence upon these elitist behaviors is the reason your side lost the 2016 election.
I laughed, but I wasn't certain that you weren't being serious. Either way, you are correct.
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Your insistence upon these elitist behaviors is the reason your side lost the 2016 election.
It's just weird, because I would think you would be the first to agree that we all lost in the 2016 election.
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That's not a very nice thing to say about Mrs Cohn. And I don't think she got elected to anything, in any case.
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She had a platform. I think she stumbled off of it on several occasions.
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Unemployment is down, GDP is up, stock market hitting highs.
Naw, the only people slitting their own throats are the piss bottlers who thought a self-shitting side o' beef that had no platform was the answer to everything.
And guess what, you're not getting jack shit of the GDP increase. You're getting fucked in the ass and too stupid to know it.
In 1945 in Berlin while Der Fuhrer was safe inside his bunker and the German industrialists that profited were quickly working behind the scenes to avoid having their money in Switzerland confiscated by getting friendly again with their American counterparts, the effects of Toxoplasma gondii had lessened to a very great extent. Thus came the German term Dachkaninchen used for the equivalent of what was derided originally by Hitlers press about the British during the years they stood alone against the Nazis.
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Only when you finally get rid of the sponges currently sharing it.
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And dumbots like you need sarcasm detectors.
TL;DR: Whooooosh.
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In this time and age it can be excused. Poe's Law has long since expanded to all sorts of areas, it's no longer confined to religion.
A mere decade ago, anyone saying anything so completely ridiculous would have immediately gotten the "Nah, nobody can be THAT stupid, he must be joking" reaction. Today, though, we have learned that people ARE actually that stupid and DO say something like that in all seriousness.
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It's a parasite that makes people hoard cats.
Or attempt to herd cats
What I find interesting is (Score:5, Interesting)
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more and more we're finding mental disorders and weaknesses aren't poor decision making or weak moral fiber but a sign something is broken. For millennia we've blamed the mentally ill for their faults unless they were so stark raving mad we couldn't do anything but laugh. As a lot of smaller behavioral problems are traced to physiology I wonder if our society and our political narratives will adapt.
Supposedly a number of ethicists and jurists are worried that "my brain made me do it" will become a standard courtroom defense.
If you want to get out ahead of the crowd, try "my cat's parasites made my brain make me do it".
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With naturalistic explanations, at least there is a chance in hell to actually test it instead of people getting away by blaming being possessed.
Better still (Score:1)
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It's almost incurable to begin with and pretty much the only people getting any treatment for it are AIDS victims.
Re: What I find interesting is (Score:1)
As an atheist I'm sure you appreciate that the devil can be seen just as an external manifestation of a person's desire to do what they feel or have been taught is wrong. The supernatural aspect is optional though convenient scapegoat.
We're finding more and more that what were thought to be expressions of free will, such as disliking the taste of coriander, or otherwise random, like being able to roll ones tongue, are instead genetically determined. Subtle combinations of genes will likely determine more
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We're finding more and more that what were thought to be expressions of free will, such as disliking the taste of coriander, or otherwise random, like being able to roll ones tongue, are instead genetically determined.
WTF? Have you been sleeping under a rock for the last 100+ years?
Neither of those, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been considered an act of "free will".
I certainly don't choose to find licorice disgusting--in fact, I've tried many times to get myself to like it, but, all efforts to the contrary notwithstanding, it still tastes like, well, cat shit to me.
And we've known about the tongue rolling thing being passed on for decades--it was used specifically as an example of an inheritable trait in a text
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How exactly have you found out what cat shit tastes like?
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Supposedly a number of ethicists and jurists are worried that "my brain made me do it" will become a standard courtroom defense.
You have to act like there is free will or this system doesn't work. However, this system sucks. There may not be any such thing as free will. In which case, you can reasonably say that what we ought to do is treat people like they're sick, not evil. However, you also can't reasonably be overly upset at people unwilling to do that. But don't beat yourself up if you are, because that's not your fault either :)
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Explaining the cause of a fault is not denying the existence of the fault.
The question is "What should be done about it?". I'll agree that "beating yourself up" is rarely a useful approach, but that doesn't mean you should just accept it. There are generally multiple approaches to controlling any specific behavior, and multiple ways to deal with an infirmity or other fault. Find one that works. Sometimes you need assistance in finding one that works.
The real problem is when there's a defect in goals...b
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Owning a cat is clearly both poor decision making and a sign of weak moral fiber.
Buddy, I thought I told you that you're not allowed on the computer anymore.
Bad dog.
Does Schrodinger's cat have this parasite? (Score:2)
Well, yes and no...
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That Schrödinger is one odd guy. Has a box with a cat in it, I opened it and it was dead, and now he accuses me of killing the cat because I opened the box.
Cats (Score:3, Informative)
Still totally worth it.
Re:Cats (Score:5, Funny)
Is that your opinion, or the parasite in your brain?
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T. gondii attacks the analytical reasoning centers first.
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If "we" is the H1-B clowns who maintain the site, then no. It's done funny things with urls since I joined.
Shit I thought Psilocybin was in my blood (Score:2)
must be my 6 cats that make me trip out all the time.
As if I needed a reason to hate cats more (Score:1)
n/t
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Or just possibly they dont like the idea of breeding more of an animal that existing primarily to torture and kill the local wildlife in the area, mostly the local small bird population?
No, you are right, it must be insecurity.
Do you burn up ants with a magnifying glass in summer for fun? Pull the legs off insects? Its significantly less cruel to wildlife than keeping a cat.
Cat Parasites (Score:1)
Makes Mice Crazy (Score:5, Informative)
Usually mice are afraid of the scent of cats, and steer clear.
But toxoplasma gondii-infected mice lose their fear of cats, and are actually attracted to the scent. They'll seek it out and hang out close to cats, where they'e more likely to be eaten, thus transferring the toxoplasma to the cat, where it can continue its life cycle.
That has nothing to do with this article, but I think it's really cool.
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It doesn't sound as cool for the mice...
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For more details, see "Fatal attraction in rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690701/pdf/11007336.pdf
Although not directly a part of the above study, the paper includes this
interesting tidbit:
"Even naive laboratory rats that have not been in contact
with cats for several hundred generations still show
strong aversive reactions when confronted with cat odor."
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If you want something even more creepy, try parasites that control their hosts [bbc.co.uk].
Li'l warning for those like me that aren't too fond of the creepy-crawly: It gets VERY creepy-crawly! Because as one can assume, most affected organisms are relatively primitive insects.
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Usually mice are afraid of the scent of cats, and steer clear.
But toxoplasma gondii-infected mice lose their fear of cats, and are actually attracted to the scent. They'll seek it out and hang out close to cats, where they'e more likely to be eaten, thus transferring the toxoplasma to the cat, where it can continue its life cycle.
That has nothing to do with this article, but I think it's really cool.
Actually, that's pretty close to the topic of the article, it's just that the article is too politically-correct to say what else it causes: homosexuality. T. Gondii rewires the brains of mice to be sexually attracted to male urine, meanwhile most gays like cats. That's hardly a coincidence.
Toxo is intriguing (Score:3)
This is *really* cool science, but "paradigm shifting" may be a touch over the top--this isn't the first paper or study to come to the conclusion that Toxo plays a role in neurological disorders, and there are labs around the globe that have been working on this topic for years. (Full disclosure: my wife was a postdoc in a lab that studied Toxo and its role in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I'm no expert myself and will happily defer to real researchers on this, but I picked up a lot over the years from her.)
Fun Toxo tidbit: this is dredged from the depths of my memory, but as I recall that they've found a correlation between Toxo rates and automobile accident rates across several countries in Europe. The underlying theory is that Toxo causes very slight impairments in both risk assessment and motor control in its victims--not enough to really notice in an individual, but enough to track across a population...
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American AC in Paris noted:
This is *really* cool science, but "paradigm shifting" may be a touch over the top--this isn't the first paper or study to come to the conclusion that Toxo plays a role in neurological disorders, and there are labs around the globe that have been working on this topic for years.
Yep:
and those are just the top three scholarly articles for a google search for "toxplasmosis rat behavior". The parent page for each of those articles links to other, related studies, as well - but the Bermoy, Webster, and Macdonald study from 2000 appears to be the first. So, no, not exactly ground-breaking, and definitely not a paradigm changer, either.
Anybody remember Stanley Pr [wikipedia.org]
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Uh, oh. Has the OP been watching Fortitude!? (Score:1)
Well that explains the Left. (Score:2)
ntr
Tee Shirt (Score:2)
"One Cat Short of Crazy"
Well that explains 'the French'... (Score:1)
News flash.... (Score:1)
Also, so have a vast majority of citizens that voted for him.
Thus, answering some perplexing questions...
Ummm.. (Score:2)
Quite impressive really.
Being diagnosed with TP at least 2 years before the first confirmed cases showing TP was a human pathogen, and 11 years before a test was developed for it.
Luck you are so smart, Professor - you should publish!
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When I talk about getting rid of political parasites, this wasn't exactly what I was talking about...
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That's not a unreasonable question, and it might even have some application to this particular case, though it would certainly be an edge effect. Toxoplasmosis does seem to encourage risky behavior (of certain types) so it could affect political leanings. But curing it wouldn't reverse political leanings because those are largely habitual. That said, it has been demonstrated, e.g., that, statistically, Republicans are more sensitive to disgust than are Democrats. So there certainly are deep connections
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Interesting.
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Hate to break it to you but life doesn't work that way. Facts don't care about your attitude.
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It doesn't work that way. You're thinking of parasites that tie their reproduction to the reproduction of the host. This is a parasite that ties its reproduction to the host being eaten by a cat. The evolutionary pressures are different.