[Virginia-American]

A friend sent me a link to this blog, The Return of the Puppet Masters by Carl Zimmer, which gives some of the background for this article. (The Proc. Royal Society is only accessible by subscription.)

Normal rats shy away from places that smell like cats; infected ones like cat odor. This makes them more likely to be eaten, which puts the parasite in cats, which shed it to be eaten by rats....

[atomicpossum]

How many cats does Howard Dean have, anyway?

[wjersey]

Does this explain the nutty women with 100 cats?

[Slings and Arrows]

[ozzymandus]

Is this why my dog is crazy?

[Virginia-American]

Not a crevo thread, exactly, but an interesting bit of natural history and medicine.

Who'd have thought that antipsychotic and antiparasitism drugs are, to some extent, the same?

Would you please ping your smaller list?

Is there a medicine ping list?

[redheadtoo]

Researchers have found stronger evidence for a link between a parasite in cat feces...and an increased risk of schizophrenia.

Now why couldn't this study come out earlier? When I was a kid my mother used to make me clean the litter box. I could have used it as an argument as to why I should be excused from the unpleasant task.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I don't really buy into this explanation.

And if you don't believe me, ask the giant cockroach in the corner.

Sorry, only doing what the voices tell me.

[furball4paws]

Personally, I'm a dog person.

In school I learned that cats carry more parasites transmissable to humans than any other domesticated animal. This dude, Toxoplasma is one nasty piece of work.

[AmericaUnite]

I was going to post the estimated percent of humans who have been exposed to Toxoplasmosis. I'm sure country to country it's different. But I found this:
http://www.amcgltd.com/archives/cat_science.html
"Crazy Rats

New Scientist is carrying this report discussing new discoveries related to toxoplasmosis, cats, rats, and human schizophrenia:

Antipsychotic drugs can limit the behavioural abnormalities associated with a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis in some rats – the condition causes them to become “suicidally” attracted to cats. The findings provide insight into a possible cause of schizophrenia, say the researchers behind the new study.

While the article's author does throw in a reference to everyone's favorite cat-blamer E. Fuller Torrey, the authors of the study take pains to point out in no way are they trying to implicate toxo infections as a cause of schizophrenia. From the article, it would appear more likely that the toxo parasite perhaps does something that manipulates at least some of the same brain areas, causing a disease which is quite similar. A subtle difference, but quite important for future research.

Plus the whole concept of a parasite that tricks its host into becoming attracted to a specific kind of predator just to complete its life cycle is just amazing. Sounds like something out of a Star Trek episode."

[teenyelliott]

Interesting.

My grandmother was schizophrenic, and hated cats. She spent the last ten years of her life extremely ill, and died at 91.

My grandfather, on the other hand, loved cats and always had them. He was healthy as a horse until he died at 104 (and he smoked his own hand rolled cigs and enjoyed his whiskey, health freaks).

My theory based on actual events; if you don't have cats, you don't live as long. :)

[F16Fighter]

Uh-oh...

[Trillian]

[SunkenCiv]

DNA Offers New Insight Concerning Cat Evolution
The New York Times | January 6, 2006 | By NICHOLAS WADE
Posted on 01/05/2006 8:39:51 PM PST by MRMEAN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552856/posts

[Ditter]

ya know I have felt a lot better since Motorola went to kitty Heaven.

[manwiththehands]

Everyone knows cats are schizo, but this is the first I've heard they can cause schizophrenia.

Maybe that's my problem ... :-o

[Slings and Arrows]

Cat poop update! Click here for Unca Cecil's two cents.

[pollwatcher]

Schizophrenia aside, T. gondi also is associated with guilt-neurosis:

---

http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060803_tgondii_culture.html

"A parasitic microbe commonly found in cats might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individuals, according to a new study.

Infection by a Toxoplasma gondii could make some individuals more prone to some forms of neuroticism and could lead to differences among cultures if enough people are infected, says Kevin Lafferty, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In a survey of different countries, Lafferty found that people living in those with higher rates of T. gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression...."

---

there are also other interesting links there about parasites and behavior: like a worm that fills up it's grasshopper host and leads it to drown itself - where the worm releases itself to mate w/ other worms in the water!