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Posted on 02/13/2006 8:18:03 AM PST by jbwbubba
Bill Christensen
Technovelgy.com Sat Feb 11, 8:00 AM ET
Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the body—and the brain. Remember that.
Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain.
Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?
Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.
However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.
If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans?
Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii: Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes. Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia. Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia. Dr. Torrey got together with the Oxford scientists, to see if anything could be done about those parasite-controlled rats that were driven to hang around cat urine-soaked corners (waiting for cats). According to a recent press release, haloperidol restores the rat's healthy fear of cat urine. In fact, antipsychotic drugs were as effective as pyrimethamine, a drug that specifically eliminates Toxoplasma.
Are parasites like Toxoplasma subtly altering human behavior? As it turns out, science fiction writers have been thinking about whether or not parasites could alter a human being's behavior, or even take control of a person. In his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, Robert Heinlein wrote about alien parasites the size of dinner plates that took control of the minds of their hosts, flooding their brains with neurochemicals. In this excerpt, a volunteer strapped to a chair allows a parasite to be introduced; the parasite rides him, taking over his mind. Under these conditions, it is possible to interview the parasite; however, it refuses to answer until zapped with a cattle prod. He reached past my shoulders with a rod. I felt a shocking, unbearable pain. The room blacked out as if a switch had been thrown.. I was split apart by it; for the moment I was masterless.
The pain left, leaving only its searing memory behind. Before I could speak, or even think coherently for myself, the splitting away had ended and I was again safe in the arms of my master...
The panic that possessed me washed away; I was again filled with an unworried sense of well being...
"What are you?" "We are the people... We have studied you and we know your ways... We come," I went on, "to bring you peace.. and contentment-and the joy of-of surrender." I hesitated again; "surrender" was not the right word. I struggled with it the way one struggles with a poorly grasped foreign language. "The joy," I repeated, "-the joy of . . .nirvana." That was it; the word fitted. I felt like a dog being patted for fetching a stick; I wriggled with pleasure.
Still not sure that parasites can manipulate the behavior of host organisms? Consider these other cases: The lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces its ant host to attach to the tips of grass blades, the easier to be eaten. The fluke needs to get into the gut of a grazing animal to complete its life cycle. The fluke Euhaplorchis californiensis causes fish to shimmy and jump so wading birds will grab them and eat them, for the same reason. Hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, sabotage the grasshopper's central nervous system, forcing them to jump into pools of water, drowning themselves. Hairworms then swim away from their hapless hosts to continue their life cycle.
Not all science-fictional parasites are harmful; read about the Crosswell tapeworm from Brian Aldiss' 1969 story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long (the basis for the Kubrick/Spielberg film AI), which keeps people who overeat from becoming obese. Not to mention robots based on parasites. Read press release on evidence for link between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia, Suicidal grasshoppers. Story via blogger Carl Zimmer and his readers.
(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.) Fine Line Revealed Between Creativity and Insanity Brain Breakthrough: Scientists Know What You'll Do
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Judging by the headline, I thought this was about Political Correctness and the little censor that tells people "You can't say that!".
Hm.....and half of America's population is liberal....correlation?
Hey, they told us it was the weed. ;-)
Mind control parasites? I saw that in Star Trek 2. Ricardo Montalban was one mean SOB...
Keep pussy clean and this stuff will not happen.
I don't have cats or rats so....I think I'm safe.
Oh my.....
Republicans are predominantly dog owners, and Democats, I mean Democrats, are primarily cat owners.
But if it's brain damage that causes them to think like that, then won't they all apply for disability?
I wonder what parasites are spread by wiping with the left hand?
Hmm. Next time you feel yourself attracted to a puddle of warm cat urine, you'll know why.
"A strong majority of Americans who owned cats were liberal, while dog owners were almost as strongly oriented toward calling themselves conservatives. "
Lotsa cat owners on FR. Prepare for battle.
Sir, you probably have the polite cat on Earth for a cat to let you to that to him or her.
the polite cat = the MOST polite cat
ping
Oh, are YOU gonna get it! Vking Kitty Ping!
It's just another crazy libertarian rant. The parasites, or "guests" as I call them, don't "control" me, they merely offer me helpful suggestions that experience has taught me is more often than not in my best interests.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
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