Your cat is friends with , or perhaps inadvertently an accomplice of , a very strange parasite that ’s long been accused of having a particular essence on human behavior , known asToxoplasma gondii . A turn of previous studies have linked the sponger to everything from risky behavior to dangerous psychiatrical problem , while other inquiry has feel that this " mind - control " ability isperhaps a niggling over - declared .
A new field of study – the large study of its kind to date – has weighed in on the debate and conclude that the ill-famed parasite has ties to schizophrenia , although the nature of the link is unidentified .
As reported in the journalBrain , Behavior , and Immunity , researchers see at ancestry sample from over 11,500 participant who took part in the Danish Blood Donor Study and searched for specific antibody againstT. gondiiand cytomegalovirus(CMV),a virus that infects the absolute majority of humans . Signs of the parasite were detected in 25.9 pct of the blood sample . They also noted that grounds of the parasite was found significantly more often in the blood of people who had been diagnose with schizophrenia .
The subject area author concluded : “ We establish that individuals with aT. gondiiinfection had increase betting odds of being name with schizophrenic psychosis disorders compare to those without infection , ” adding that the “ floor of association exceed both the genetic and most other environmental risk factors for schizophrenia to particular date , support the close sexual relation betweenT. gondiiinfection and schizophrenia . ”
Transmitted via cat poop , T. gondiiis also known for its power to impress thebehavior of mice , although it can bear upon the brains of most strong - blooded animals . mouse unremarkably stay well away from the smell of cat pee , understandably so , because it ’s a clear reading they ’re in the territory of their top predator . However , shiner taint with the parasite appear to actively seek out cat pee . In turn , the mouse acts as a vehicle forT. gondiito come into inter-group communication with a cat , one of the only known animal hosts in which the leech can sexually reproduce . Fiendishly smart , eh ?
Since us world are such good chum with kat , a mellow proportion of the population ( especially in true cat - loving cultures ) is also infected withT. gondiias well . It ’s unclear how or why the parasite impress the human brain and our behavior , although some research suggests it could be due tochanges in dopamine levels . It ’s another plebeian figure of speech thatT. gondiiis link up to an increased risk of suicide and traffic fortuity , perhaps because the sponger can spark risky behavior . However , this study did n’t obtain a unassailable association between these factor and the sponger .
Still , that point stay on relatively speculative because this study did not look for an rudimentary mechanism that might explain the elusive connectedness betweenT. gondiiand mental health problems . Nevertheless , although the font is far from settled , this study adds to the develop nap of evidence that hint at some strange link betweenT. gondiiand genial health .
