Posted on 01/22/2006 4:38:30 PM PST by Virginia-American
I couldn't say. It's probably a safe bet that no one knows for sure, but we know about toxoplasmosis and that is enough for me to send up the warning flag about other potential complications.
I had cat scratch fever once. Almost died from it, but didn't. Maybe I'm immune; I dunno. I now have 3 cats.
hilarious!
What is the schizo capital? Truly, I'd've guessed NYC.
The blog I linked to in post #1 has other examples of parasites changing the behavior of hosts.
It is an amazing phenomenon.
L O L
Uh-oh...
I don't know, haven't kept up with it. Used to be suspect that a lot of Irish were prone to it...
I wonder why that is. I guess dogs have been domesticated longer, so we've adapted to each other.
It was my impression that cattle were the worst: Smallpox and TB, and I believe a few others, were originally cattle diseases.
My guess is that schizophrenia is like cancer, a whole lot of different things with similar symptoms.
I'm pretty sure there is a genetic component.
I can't remember the name of the chemical, but "Silence of the Lambs" described something as being the "smell of schizophrenia" (paraphrasing). This leads to the hypothesis that there is a metabolic disorder with the same symptoms.
And the thought just struck me, if dogs can sniff out cancer, why not at least some schizophrenia?
Insert "9 Lives" joke here.
I am honored to be included on this list. I do so hope to live up to your expectations...
A real LOL!! Glad I just finished muh beer (as finished as the Panthers).
Silence of the Lambs, chapter 22 -
"You believe he's a catatonic schizoid?"
"Yes. Can you smell his sweat? That peculiar goatish odor is trans-3-methyl-2 hexonic acid. Remember it, it's the smell of schizophrenia."
Spelled wrong in book. Should be trans-3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid. But there's no difference in the amounts in non-schizophrenics vs. schizophrenics:
http://www.jlr.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/4/495
However, it is a chemical in armpit sweat, so it may have been associated with schizophrenics because they weren't taking care of themselves.
Info about odors associated with other diseases, from:
http://www.angelfire.com/md2/simianline/AnosmiaFacts1.htm
"Doctors have always relied on their sense of smell to diagnosis diseases, especially in the days before sophisticated technology. Typhoid fever is said to smell of freshly baked bread; diabetes of acetone, sweetish nail polish, or sugar; the plague of mellow apples; measles of freshly plucked feathers; yellow fever of the butcher shop; nephritis of ammonia; scrofula of stale beer; liver failure of ammonia; isovaleric acidemia of sweaty feet. Menses breath comes from a change in sulfur compounds in the body during a womans menstrual cycle. Patients with liver cirrhosis have aliphatic acids in the breath, while di- and tri-methylamine can be found in the breath of people with failing kidneys. A signature cocktail of alkanes and benzene derivatives are exhaled by people with lung cancer."
Zero, if you keep your kitties inside. Unless you have mouses in your houses.
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