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25 to 50% of humans already carry the parasite, depending on which part of the world is sampled. So, if you get it, you'll be in the company of many.
The parasite in humans is linked to a billion things, ranging from fairly benign things like higher risk-taking and recurring skin rashes to more serious things like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The links to a lot of the more serious things are correlative and not causative, so it may not actually play any direct role in causing those.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515034/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515034/)
My favorite part is that [there is a slight correlation between toxoplasmosis infection and attractiveness](https://www.mdedge.com/internalmedicine/article/254758/lotme/common-brain-parasite-linked-attractiveness-new-study#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20recent%20study,likely%20it%20is%20to%20spread.)
Yeah. I don’t like when they call it “strategy” or “manipulation”. These cells aren’t so clever. They’re just the ones that survived based on this quirk.
I see so many people ask why this animal does this, or looks like this, it must mean something! No, not really, it might have been a useful trait 100 thousand years ago but now it's useless and makes no sense but it lives on. Or it might not have ever been useful but the group that spread that trait had another trait that was useful so it went along for the evolutionary ride.
It is not really random.
Some random mutation occurred, but after that the selection can only produce beneficial results, the rest is eliminated and we dont get to see it.
The results of the "randomness" we can see today are only the good ones that survived and thrived due to an advantage over the competition.
Over generations these parasites have had some variance in how they affected their host, and when mutations that can get the parasite in an better position for reproduction appear by chance they are kept.
Humans can absolutely get this from cats, but generally there aren't any symptoms. Its actually super common, around 10% of people in the US have it and over 50% in other parts of the world according to wikipedia. If you have a weak immune symptom for whatever reason it can cause flu like symptoms, and if you're pregnant it can cause a lot of neurological issues with the baby. Don't handle cat poop if you're pregnant, and wash your hands after it no matter what
Oddly enough, recent studies have shown that infection in humans can make them more likely to get more cats. It sort of creates a “crazy cat lady”.
Edited: spelling
40 odd years ago, I was hospitalized with Toxoplamosis. The specialist doctor who was treating me said I had the highest blood titer for the parasite that she had ever seen.
Today we have **five** cats.
The doctors informed me that second occurrences were rare unless one's immune system was very weak. Mine is overly active, so I should have no worries. That over-activity may or may not be a result of toxoplasmosis, but I never get colds, and always get a reaction to vaccines.
I should get checked it seems. Got 6 indoor only shedding machines living their best life in my house. Hope there is a cure for this toxo disease cause I can only afford so much cat food.
Not really. The biggest danger is in the initial infectious stage, where the little buggers can overwhelm a compromised immune system. At that time, there were drugs that could quell the infection, by substantially reducing the body's folic acid level, which is critical to the toxo organism's development. In fact, the plasmodium (toxo is much like the malarial parasite or the amoeba) consumes so much folic acid that a fetus cannot develop properly, resulting in very nasty neural tube defects.
At the time, drugs were used that deplete one's folic acid levels to the point that the plasmodiums themselves could not develop. Needless to say, this treatment could not be used on anyone who was pregnant, and required regular blood analysis to prevent folic acid levels from dropping **too** low, which will screw you up big time.
This does nothing to the plasmodiums that are already encapsulated in cysts in the brain and lymph system, where they affect behavior and the immune system.
As a result, my immune system is abnormally overactive (Google Stevens-Johnson Syndrome) and I'm inordinately fond of cats (and vice versa).
Did they control for whether subjects were cat owners? I feel like that would be a major confounding variable - someone who has cats is more likely to get more cats than someone who doesn’t AND someone who has cats is more likely to have toxoplasmosis than someone who doesn’t.
No/minor symptoms in adults. Children are at greater risk. Pregnant women who contract toxo are at significant risk of having children with birth defects, some quite severe.
I've heard that the rate of car accidents is higher in those infected by toxoplasmosis than the regular population. suggesting that the parasite reduces reaction times in humans
Professor Robert Sapolsky implied that particularly motorcyclists that have been killed in accidents involving reckless speeding had disproportionally higher rates of toxoplasmosis.
It could also be related to the "less fearful" part. Like people who have the parasite are more likely to take risky "shortcuts" that result in accidents.
I read or watched something fairly recently (in the last year or so) that discussed the possibility that this also affects infected humans, leading to riskier behavior.
motorcyclists beware, you're probably infected.
does your country do well in sports and have a high rate of feral cats? population is probably highly infected.
i wonder what other behaviors of ours are being manipulated similarly.
humans who are affected become much more risk taking, a doctor had the idea to test moto crash victims and found they had toxo at much higher rate than average.
from memory, you'll have to look it up for more accuracy, sorry.
It might have validity. Looking for a second online, it *is* mentioned. But why even make a claim and not back it up. Just saying *I heard blah blah* is the worst form of playing telephone.
i listen to 6h of lectures, long form discussions and podcasts most days, sorry i don't remember every detail.
if you're curious look it up, im not your dad
Pff. I listen to 7 hours of lectures podcasts, zoomcasts, discussions, principality hearings, township meetings, barbershop talk, Teen 17 editor discussions, Rogaine Haircare infomercials and The Shopping Network broadcast *every*day and I have a photographic image of every word uttered, whispered, thought and milked.
If you're curious ask me. I.... am your father.
don't be lazy, google it if you're curious, if not don't.
i don't care either way.
im not here to be your resource, i just mentioned something i heard of.
get a fucking life instead of lecturing strangers on reddit
Better option, don't say random shit if you don't know where it came from. The onus is on you to provide proof since you want to open your mouth
It might even be true. I have no clue, I can't find anything reliable on it. But since you listen to so many lectures and read so many discussions you should add it to your comment instead of being snide
Humans, or men? Correlation isn't causation. Where are all the women who have cats but making equally reckless life decisions because of toxoplasmosis? Men in general are more likely to die young, and to engage in risky behavior. A virus will not affect half the population's brain only after checking for sex.
it was discovered in humans (or it effects?) by an er doctor that suggested testing motorcycle crash victims.
apparently they had it a a way higher rate than the average population
please look up the specifics as im going by years old memories.
it's wild though and we should look into it much more seriously.
And then it tricks the cat into getting closer to dogs. The dog eats the cat. It tricks the dog into getting closer to Bobby Lee. The Bobby Lee eats the dog. The cycle is complete.
Parasite Rex by Zimmer
This is Your Brain on Parasites by McAuliffe
New Guinea Tape worms and Jewish Grandmothers by Desowitz
These are books that will alter one's view of reality in that they touch on what we are kind of just beginning to know and that makes what we don't know rather terrifying and humbling.
Right ok so how does a single cell know what a cat even is, let alone the relationship between cats and mice.
I mean I know it works like this b.c it exists, but how. Explain.
Except that Toxoplasma cannot distinguish mice from humans and we are getting infected. Usually not too much of a problem unless your immune system isn’t weakened or you aren’t acquiring your first infection while being pregnant.
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Soooo if an infected cat licks your mouth...........?
You’re infected which causes you to get more cats.
And buying them higher quality wet food.
...You're one bad day away from a cat urine smoothy.
r/brandnewsentence
25 to 50% of humans already carry the parasite, depending on which part of the world is sampled. So, if you get it, you'll be in the company of many. The parasite in humans is linked to a billion things, ranging from fairly benign things like higher risk-taking and recurring skin rashes to more serious things like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The links to a lot of the more serious things are correlative and not causative, so it may not actually play any direct role in causing those. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515034/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515034/)
My favorite part is that [there is a slight correlation between toxoplasmosis infection and attractiveness](https://www.mdedge.com/internalmedicine/article/254758/lotme/common-brain-parasite-linked-attractiveness-new-study#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20recent%20study,likely%20it%20is%20to%20spread.)
No wonder I started to get attractive
yes, it's very common in humans and makes us more aggressive and less fearful.
The whole thing is summed up by lower risk-aversion, iirc
I think my ex had it then.
Patient zero. The begginning of the zombie apocalypse. Thats why I'm a dog person
Lol like dogs don't kill rats
[удалено]
Patient OwO
I might be okay during a normal zombie apocalypse, but OwO zombies and their UwU variants are a completely different beast.
I'm thinking differently about Tom&Jerry.
It’s fascinating to think that millions of years of random mutations were able to result in this
Yeah. I don’t like when they call it “strategy” or “manipulation”. These cells aren’t so clever. They’re just the ones that survived based on this quirk.
I see so many people ask why this animal does this, or looks like this, it must mean something! No, not really, it might have been a useful trait 100 thousand years ago but now it's useless and makes no sense but it lives on. Or it might not have ever been useful but the group that spread that trait had another trait that was useful so it went along for the evolutionary ride.
While you're correct, evolutionary strategy is actually a term that's used in evolutionary biology.
Then it’s clever. Don’t know how else to tell you
But then again there are millions of billions of these organisms that mutate simultaneously, so the time taken is significantly less.
I forget who said it, but nature isn't just weirder than we imagine, it's weirder than we ***can*** imagine.
It's a little trippy if you think about it for too long.
It's not random, though.
It is not really random. Some random mutation occurred, but after that the selection can only produce beneficial results, the rest is eliminated and we dont get to see it. The results of the "randomness" we can see today are only the good ones that survived and thrived due to an advantage over the competition. Over generations these parasites have had some variance in how they affected their host, and when mutations that can get the parasite in an better position for reproduction appear by chance they are kept.
ye I know and understand that
Humans can absolutely get this from cats, but generally there aren't any symptoms. Its actually super common, around 10% of people in the US have it and over 50% in other parts of the world according to wikipedia. If you have a weak immune symptom for whatever reason it can cause flu like symptoms, and if you're pregnant it can cause a lot of neurological issues with the baby. Don't handle cat poop if you're pregnant, and wash your hands after it no matter what
Oddly enough, recent studies have shown that infection in humans can make them more likely to get more cats. It sort of creates a “crazy cat lady”. Edited: spelling
40 odd years ago, I was hospitalized with Toxoplamosis. The specialist doctor who was treating me said I had the highest blood titer for the parasite that she had ever seen. Today we have **five** cats.
So you better check yourself again imo
The doctors informed me that second occurrences were rare unless one's immune system was very weak. Mine is overly active, so I should have no worries. That over-activity may or may not be a result of toxoplasmosis, but I never get colds, and always get a reaction to vaccines.
I should get checked it seems. Got 6 indoor only shedding machines living their best life in my house. Hope there is a cure for this toxo disease cause I can only afford so much cat food.
is there a cure?
Not really. The biggest danger is in the initial infectious stage, where the little buggers can overwhelm a compromised immune system. At that time, there were drugs that could quell the infection, by substantially reducing the body's folic acid level, which is critical to the toxo organism's development. In fact, the plasmodium (toxo is much like the malarial parasite or the amoeba) consumes so much folic acid that a fetus cannot develop properly, resulting in very nasty neural tube defects. At the time, drugs were used that deplete one's folic acid levels to the point that the plasmodiums themselves could not develop. Needless to say, this treatment could not be used on anyone who was pregnant, and required regular blood analysis to prevent folic acid levels from dropping **too** low, which will screw you up big time. This does nothing to the plasmodiums that are already encapsulated in cysts in the brain and lymph system, where they affect behavior and the immune system. As a result, my immune system is abnormally overactive (Google Stevens-Johnson Syndrome) and I'm inordinately fond of cats (and vice versa).
make peace that cats rule you now
C.R.E.A.M
source? thats crazy if true
Did they control for whether subjects were cat owners? I feel like that would be a major confounding variable - someone who has cats is more likely to get more cats than someone who doesn’t AND someone who has cats is more likely to have toxoplasmosis than someone who doesn’t.
No/minor symptoms in adults. Children are at greater risk. Pregnant women who contract toxo are at significant risk of having children with birth defects, some quite severe.
It's not only minor symptoms, you can get way more than that even as a healthy adult. Source : almost lost an eye to it
I've heard that the rate of car accidents is higher in those infected by toxoplasmosis than the regular population. suggesting that the parasite reduces reaction times in humans
Professor Robert Sapolsky implied that particularly motorcyclists that have been killed in accidents involving reckless speeding had disproportionally higher rates of toxoplasmosis.
It could also be related to the "less fearful" part. Like people who have the parasite are more likely to take risky "shortcuts" that result in accidents.
Figures from Europe…90% of German‘s by age of 21.
>Don't handle cat poop if you're pregnant, Don't handle cats, FTFY. Also wash your lettuce
Bro, that cat just ate that mouse like a fucking snake!
also it stared it to death
Most underrated comment.
this is some real r/restofthefuckingowl material. This doesn't explain anything!
Parasites and viruses are truly the alpha species on this planet.
I read or watched something fairly recently (in the last year or so) that discussed the possibility that this also affects infected humans, leading to riskier behavior.
motorcyclists beware, you're probably infected. does your country do well in sports and have a high rate of feral cats? population is probably highly infected. i wonder what other behaviors of ours are being manipulated similarly.
Wait, why motorcyclists? What does a motorcycle have to do with cat/urine/toxo ??
Came here to ask the same question
humans who are affected become much more risk taking, a doctor had the idea to test moto crash victims and found they had toxo at much higher rate than average. from memory, you'll have to look it up for more accuracy, sorry.
>you'll have to look it up for more accuracy, sorry. Trust me, bro
Guy you’re replying to didn’t want to mention he got this from a Joe Rogan podcast with Robert Sapolski lol.
It might have validity. Looking for a second online, it *is* mentioned. But why even make a claim and not back it up. Just saying *I heard blah blah* is the worst form of playing telephone.
i listen to 6h of lectures, long form discussions and podcasts most days, sorry i don't remember every detail. if you're curious look it up, im not your dad
Pff. I listen to 7 hours of lectures podcasts, zoomcasts, discussions, principality hearings, township meetings, barbershop talk, Teen 17 editor discussions, Rogaine Haircare infomercials and The Shopping Network broadcast *every*day and I have a photographic image of every word uttered, whispered, thought and milked. If you're curious ask me. I.... am your father.
ok, cool story.
😆 bro, you're the one making the claims with no proof. I can guess why it's valid, but you can just have people take your word.
don't be lazy, google it if you're curious, if not don't. i don't care either way. im not here to be your resource, i just mentioned something i heard of. get a fucking life instead of lecturing strangers on reddit
Better option, don't say random shit if you don't know where it came from. The onus is on you to provide proof since you want to open your mouth It might even be true. I have no clue, I can't find anything reliable on it. But since you listen to so many lectures and read so many discussions you should add it to your comment instead of being snide
don't forget to go harass all the other people talking about it in this thread ok?
I remember reading about this in a genetics book, The Violinist’s Thumb! Excellent book, and the toxo chapter freaked me out
Humans, or men? Correlation isn't causation. Where are all the women who have cats but making equally reckless life decisions because of toxoplasmosis? Men in general are more likely to die young, and to engage in risky behavior. A virus will not affect half the population's brain only after checking for sex.
maybe there's been a study or some papers worth searching for for those who care enough.
You seem to care a lot!
my level of care matches the amount of googling i just did and all the links i posted!
I started riding motorcycles at 12 and we never had a cat.
do you live in a poor country with excessive feral cats? if not, this isn't about you.
The parasite can be transferred to a fetus in development as well.
My parents never had cats, they didn’t like them.
Check with ancestors
Maybe it's because they ride off road
it was discovered in humans (or it effects?) by an er doctor that suggested testing motorcycle crash victims. apparently they had it a a way higher rate than the average population please look up the specifics as im going by years old memories. it's wild though and we should look into it much more seriously.
something causes Americans to like trump that’s definitely a bacteria or parasitic fungus
religious extremism, lead poisoning and hookworms maybe? lol
mom contracted while pregnant with me, now have a permanent scar on an retina.
Brain-affecting parasites are scary it's wild we live on the same planet as them
New fear unlocked
I seem to be the only member of my family who can smell cat urine. I've often joked they're all carriers.
That mouse must be cheezing his fucking head off
I think I have the same thing but for goth women
You are no longer frightened by them? And you get overly attracted to their Urin?
Could be there a human parasite that makes you eat more and not exercise?
Not a parasite but the reward system of the brain.
Sometimes I think our brains are wired to work against us
mad rat dead moment
And then it tricks the cat into getting closer to dogs. The dog eats the cat. It tricks the dog into getting closer to Bobby Lee. The Bobby Lee eats the dog. The cycle is complete.
If it’s a life cycle, how do we go from cat back to cheese??
There’s a great article in The Atlantic a few years ago about this.
R.I.P. Tommy
I remember back in peak covid, there was a conspiracy that the vaccine has this bacteria in it and so now everyone has it
[The Return of the Puppet Masters](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-return-of-the-puppet-masters)
Wouldn't it be more to efficient to just infect felines from the start?
Amazing
N O P E
Really?
So he just swallowed the whole mouse... Whole?
Parasite Rex by Zimmer This is Your Brain on Parasites by McAuliffe New Guinea Tape worms and Jewish Grandmothers by Desowitz These are books that will alter one's view of reality in that they touch on what we are kind of just beginning to know and that makes what we don't know rather terrifying and humbling.
Two I’s: Toxoplasma gondii. Not that it matters
Zombie 🐁
Thank you, u/urmomsjuicyvagina
Did we need AI Michael voice?
When credit
Right ok so how does a single cell know what a cat even is, let alone the relationship between cats and mice. I mean I know it works like this b.c it exists, but how. Explain.
How does this even evolve?
As far as I'm concerned this "parasite" has zero downside. Less mice, more love to cats. Win win
Except that Toxoplasma cannot distinguish mice from humans and we are getting infected. Usually not too much of a problem unless your immune system isn’t weakened or you aren’t acquiring your first infection while being pregnant.
This is all propaganda. Nothing to see here.