A study has shown that domestic cats infected with a parasite called toxoplasma gondii can actually alter the personalities of their human owners, turning women into sex kittens" and men into alley cats. We found they [the infected women] were more easygoing, more warm-hearted, had more friends and cared more about how they looked. However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men, Dr. Jaroslav Flegr, who conducted the study at Charles University in Prague, told Londons Sunday Times newspaper. Infected men, on the other hand, became more aggressive, less well-groomed, undesirable loners who were more likely to be suspicious and jealous.25 responses total.
Errmmm... did this come from a tabloid, perchance?
This response has been erased.
I thought that it was supposed to cause schitzophrenia (I DID read that in a reputable place recently... will have to google and see if I can refind it).
Toxoplasmosis does cause major problems, even death, for those with weakened immune systems.
The link is http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Schizovirus.html Copying part of the article: Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia? by Stephen Mihm The New York Times Magazine on the Web "I THINK CATS ARE GREAT," says E. Fuller Torrey. His office decor would seem to confirm this statement: A cat poster hangs on one wall; a cat calendar sits on his desk; and a framed picture of a friend's cat leans against the windowsill. He even admits to having a "cat library" at home. But Torrey's interest in felines is a bit different from that of your typical cat lover. That's because Torrey, a psychiatry professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Science and the enfant terrible of mental health research, believes that Felis domestica may carry infectious diseases that could cause schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "My wife thinks I'm going to be assassinated by cat owners," says Torrey with a sigh. "In fact, I like cats. Unfortunately, if we are correct that they transmit infections..." Here his voice trails off, and he pensively fingers his closely cropped beard. Torrey often speaks in a self-deprecating manner of his "delusional" notions, but he's dead serious about the cat connection. He thinks "typhoid tabbies" are passing along Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes brain lesions and, if Torrey is right, schizophrenia. Torrey first made the argument nearly thirty years ago. "It was considered psychotic," he admits. But since then, his ideas, though still outside the mainstream, have attracted converts, most notably the Johns Hopkins virologist Robert Yolken, with whom he now collaborates. Together, they're trying to prove that toxoplasmosis is but one of several infectious diseases that cause most cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It helps their case that previous explanations -- bad mothering, bad genes -- have proven deficient to varying degrees. But Torrey and Yolken have also uncovered some hard evidence to support their claims, and they are about to put their theory to the test with clinical trials of drugs that are new to the psychopharmacological arsenal: antibiotics and antivirals similar to those used by AIDS patients. If the duo finds that such drugs alter the course of schizophrenia, Yolken observes, their results "would represent a major advance in the treatment of this devastating disease as well as in understanding its basic etiology." There is quite a bit more to the article, and there are several others about the link between toxoplasma gondii and schitzophrenia.
I like the explanation in the Planet of the Apes better.
The article is on http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,102093,00.html It actually says that this toxoplasma causes these personality changes. Weird.
Remember kids, if you don't want this, wear a mask, gloves and wash thoroughly after you clean your cat's litter box.
Kitties get toxoplasmosis from eating infected mice.
Is that the same toxoplasmosis as discussed? I've read that the mice-infection only lasts for a month, so if keep your cats inside you shouldn't have a problem.
Some of us have mice in our houses! I took my cat Tangelo to the vet last Friday because he was walking around and stumbling and falling over, as if he was drunk. The first thought my vet had was toxoplasmosis, which I guess is pretty serious. She's treating him for and ear infection first, to rule that out. But she asked me if I ever have mice int he house or if Tangelo goes outdoors. Yes, I hear mice sometimes, and no, he doesn't go out doors.
Is that the only way cats can get toxoplasmosis?
they can also get it from feasting on dead aids patients.
That was incredibly disgusting. Sapna, you might want to try this URL: http://web.vet.cornell.edu/Public/FHC/toxo.html
Agreed with Mickey, ick.
8D
I wish I had schitzophrenia.
eat a pussy.
Thanks for the URL Micket :)
AFAIK, the Sunday Times isn't a tabloid, it's a
broadsheet - allegedly. (In Britain, "serious" papers
are printed on larger sheets than tabloids
("broadsheets") - presumably so the Stupids can pick
out the tabloids without having to go through the
trauma of buying a dictionary and looking up big
words. Like, um,"big".)
EOF
It's the same way in the US, for the most part. EOF
What is this "big"? EOF
twenex, the Guardian is on smaller paper than some of the British tabloids, but it's certainly not a tabloid. EOF
Is it? i hadn't noticed. and i read it too. /me does a homer simpson impression. I'm sure there's a country where the broadsheets are the same size as the tabloids...
whore.
You have several choices: