“Mind virus” is a good term. From what I read of the personality and thought changes that occur, it reminds me of people who get involved in cults. I had some brief acquaintance with members of Lyndon LaRouche’s U.S.Labor Party back in the seventies. I also remember the LaRouche weirdos who got nominated to a couple of statewide offices on the Democratic ticket in Illinois in 1982. That was a political cult.
Toxoplasmosis.