MrNlul77 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Not really a question, more just something I thought others may find interesting. I watched a weird nature program, on it were rats running after cats, evidently they had been infected by a parasite called T.Gondii which effects their brains, effectively rewiring it and in away controlling the rats actions. There are many examples in nature of parasites controlling the minds of their host. It mentioned that 1/3 of humans are infected with T.Gondii, the effects on the human brain are being studied. I read this article http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/308873/
utopian Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Yea, I have known about it for a while. Unfortunately it seems to spread in the worst way possible, which is through cat feces. It seems fairly easy to contract just from handling. My mother used to live on a farm that had lots of cats, and she has often been noted as... not quite right. We used to have two cats in the house when I was young and I always used to play with them. I am concerned of what kind of effect it might have on me if I myself have it.
Mister Mister Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 My understanding is that it has very little effect on most people, which makes sense as we have such a long evolutionary history with domestic cats. That said, once my mother got partial blindness from Toxoplasmosis, and needed surgery.
King David Posted December 25, 2015 Posted December 25, 2015 I look at the world from a Gnostic point point of view, Toxo and other critters combine to deny reality from your consciousness. They can promote risky behaviors via manipulation of your gut and the nerves in the dermis. Once your immune system is compromised they really kick it in to gear, perhaps associated with dementia
AccuTron Posted December 25, 2015 Posted December 25, 2015 My understanding is that it has very little effect on most people, which makes sense as we have such a long evolutionary history with domestic cats. That said, once my mother got partial blindness from Toxoplasmosis, and needed surgery. If you think about it for a bit, were there any other changes in your mother? Did your mother seem more or less aversive to various things? Of course, needing and having surgery is a complete game changer anyway. From the article, it seemed that the organism affected parts of the so-called limbic system, possibly very small parts where fear and anxiety, and sexual arousal, are located. The arousal place I don't know about, the other places I know are rather small parts of the overall brain. I wonder if that tiny location indicates that it really just lodges there, or it's the only location that can be measured. I know some fungus or mold can invade an ant species, and take over it's ant brain, and make it climb to the top of a bush and stay there, completely unlike normal, so the mold can finish off it's brain and make spores that stick out the top of the head. Ewww. That's obviously evolved...and got started how???...and I don't know about the Tox germ. Infected rat seeks cat, Cat eats infected rat, Cat makes infected scat.
Recommended Posts