Cat Parasite Causes Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasma Gondii Causes Disease That Alters Our Personalities
Jun 29, 2007
What Is Toxoplasma Gondii
A parasite known as Toxoplasma Gondii causes a disease that most of us have heard of called Toxoplasmosis. Though most adult immune systems fight off the disease without ever having had any symptoms, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems could develop health problems after coming into contact with this parasite.
It is, however, more difficult than past research let on, to contact the disease, as it is most often spread through kitty litter; but, you must actually ingest cat feces that is contaminated with Toxoplasma Gondii before you can become infected by the parasite. This can happen while cleaning litter boxes or even digging in your garden where your cat has “pottied.” You’re much more likely to get the parasite by eating undercooked pork or drinking infected water.
Psychological Affects of Toxoplasma Gondii
If you’ve read Rosemary’s article on Toxoplasma Gondii, she mentions that, “Recent research indicates that the infection can have subtle and long-lasting psychological effects.” This idea is expanded on in the article, “Cat Parasite Affects Everything We Feel and Do.”
Scientist Ken Lafferty has done a research study on how Toxoplasma Gondii could quite possibly alter entire civilizations. He says that approximately half Earth’s population has been infected with Toxoplasma Gondii, and that different cultures have more widespread infections. His goal was to find out if, the more people who owned cats, the more were infected with the parasite, and how little or how much that would change their society.
Apparently, women who have been infected “tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others, while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring. But both men and women who are infected are more prone to feeling guilty and insecure.” The affects can go as far as causing schizophrenia or causing hyperactivity and low IQ’s in children.
Physical Symptoms of Toxoplasma Gondii
- Flu-like symptoms lasting more than a month
- Damage to the brain, eyes, and other organs
- Reduced or blurred vision
- Pain in bright light
- Redness or tearing of the eyes
- Infants born with eye or brain problems
Are Our Cats Really Trying to Take Over the World?
Even Lafferty says this is the strangest project he’s ever worked on! Especially funny is the fact that rats that are infected with the parasite will actually surrender themselves to a cat and will even just “hang out” amongst cats. He says that with cats’ diets today, it is highly unlikely that humans will actually catch the virus from their cats, but it is certainly an interesting idea that a kitty parasite could actually change society as we know it! Knowing cats, the whole idea really isn’t that far fetched!
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