[weegee]

Judging by the headline, I thought this was about Political Correctness and the little censor that tells people "You can't say that!".

[Psycho_Bunny]

Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma

Hm.....and half of America's population is liberal....correlation?

[cripplecreek]

I
find
this
article
offens
ive

[rhombus]

noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings

Hey, they told us it was the weed. ;-)

[Sam's Army]

Mind control parasites? I saw that in Star Trek 2. Ricardo Montalban was one mean SOB...

[devane617]

Keep pussy clean and this stuff will not happen.

[ExcursionGuy84]

I don't have cats or rats so....I think I'm safe.

[tx_eggman]

[George Smiley]

Let me guess.

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?

[null and void]

I wonder what parasites are spread by wiping with the left hand?

[Cicero]

Hmm. Next time you feel yourself attracted to a puddle of warm cat urine, you'll know why.

[ConservativeMind]

Actually, there were studies done over the past ten years that showed personality changes in men and women once infected with the T. gondii parasite.

Women somehow ranked more intelligent and personable while men became more jealous. Look them up.

Then I looked into the ratio of cat ownership among Americans and the French. A strong majority of Americans who owned cats were liberal, while dog owners were almost as strongly oriented toward calling themselves conservatives. As for the French, it appeared that cats were their overwhelming favorite pet.

I don't know if these insights are particularly helpful or if they really point to a true problem, but they are disturbing to me.

[From many - one.]

ping

[Constantine XIII]

An explanation for crazy old cat ladies?

[Old Professer]

This from Ohio State University:

"Transmission of toxoplasmosis can occur via oocysts or bradyzoites. Since cat feces are the only source of oocysts, exposure to oocysts can be minimized, but not prevented completely. The oocysts are very resistant to adverse environmental conditions, and oocysts in garden soil, sand boxes, etc., can remain infective for months (perhaps years in warmer climates). Infections via bradyzoites occur when raw or undercooked meat is eaten. House cats can be infected this way when they eat rodents and birds. Humans can be infected when they eat raw or undercooked meat products, and considering the very low host specificity of Toxoplasma, no meat product should be considered absolutely "safe." Heating meat to approximately 160 F or cooling it to 0 F (a hard freeze) should kill most of the zoitocysts."

[Eepsy]

[dljordan]

That was fascinating. Must...go....drink....BEER!

[OKIEDOC]

Could it possibly be that Al Gore is Eat Up With The Dumb @ss or just has a bad case of Toxoplasma worms crawling around in his empty head.

We are almost certain that Nancy Pepolosie, Murdering Ted Kennedy, Little Dickie Turdbin, Hairy the scummy Reid, HowWeird Deaniac, Jessie Jackass, George Sore@ss and others have these Toxoplasma a crawling in their wormy minds and are also Eat Up With The Dumb A$$ as well. (EUWTDA)

[TheSpottedOwl]

Interesting. There was a warning many years ago to women who were pregnant. Don't empty the cat box. Have someone else do it, because of possible parasitical infection dangers to your unborn child.

Are there ways to get tested to see if you've been infected?

[MRMEAN]

The standard example of parasites altering behavior to facilitate transmission is rabies, which causes the infected animal to become fearless and aggressive, to transmit the infection to new hosts by bites.