Cat Parasite Affects Everything We Feel and Do

ABCNews ^ | June 09 2099 [sic] | staff reporter

[Daffynition]

Kevin Lafferty is a smart, cautious, thoughtful scientist who doesn't hate cats, but he has put forth a provocative theory that suggests that a clever cat parasite may alter human cultures on a massive scale.

His phone hasn't stopped ringing since he published one of the strangest research papers to come out of the mill in quite awhile.

The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet, and it has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways.

Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite 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.

Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia. In an adult, the symptoms are like a mild form of flu, but it can be much more serious in an infant or fetus. Oxford University researchers believe high levels of the parasite leads to hyperactivity and lower IQs in children.

Lafferty, who is a parasite ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is an expert on the role parasites play in the ecology of other animals.

[Daffynition]

[BipolarBob]

Well, that explains a lot of things.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It’s true, Mahatma Gondii changed all of India.

[I Buried My Guns]

....while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring.

It certainly explains my brother in law.

[listenhillary]

Transmission
Ingestion of contaminated cat feces

Billy PUT THAT DOWN!

[End Times Sentinel]

Admittedly, my cat, Fat Mike, doesn’t bring a lot to the table when it comes to contributions to the home, but I think calling him a parasite is a little bit of a stretch.

[frithguild]

Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite 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.

Socialist fodder.

[Paradox]

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.

Figures, a cat parasite that turns men into p*ssies..

[garyhope]

LOL.

I’m sure this can be applied to many, many people and relatives.

“Take my wife,.....Please!”

[miele man]

“So if enough personalities are changed in a given society, will the culture of that society also be changed?”

Is this his way of saying we are all pussy whipped?

[Auntie Mame]

Now that was interesting.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Wasn't something like this in a Star Trek episode? Or two?

 

 

[listenhillary]

Wiki

Correlations have been found between latent Toxoplasma infections and various characteristics:[29]
1)Decreased novelty-seeking behaviour[30]
2)Slower reactions[citation needed]
3)Lower rule-consciousness and greater jealousy (in men)[30]
4)Promiscuity and greater conscientiousness (in women)[30]

[Alex Murphy]

[listenhillary]

“Figures, a cat parasite that turns men into p*ssies..”

You may be on to something.

Wiki
“However, there is large variation between countries: in France, for example, around 88% of the population are carriers, probably due to a high consumption of raw and lightly cooked meat.”

[RJS1950]

We’ve had cats for years and I doubt that I’ve become any less intelligent, less aggressive, or more of a pussy but it seems that reading articles like this leads some to make stupid remarks. Piss off.

[stefanbatory]

hmmm...we had barn cats when I was a kid...they were excellent mousers and rat killers. heck, I remember one time when one of them caught a weasel. The thing got away on her and she subsequently caught it again!

[a fool in paradise]

Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite 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. Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia.

[stefanbatory]

In the article, it says that only one in 8 here in the US is a carrier. those are gamblin odds...

[stefanbatory]

maybe it was that wiki article posted above that said that...maybe i should also find the coffee pot here at the office.