Toxoplasma - Parasites infected one third of world population and controls them!

Here´s the czech study that proves behaviour changes caused by Toxoplasma:
[link to schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org]

Get rid of the Fed! Hope you guys in the US will have real liberty soon

Yes, Yes...
A parasite takes over the host body and...
Actually, sounds like the producers of that movie might have had similar parasitic infections as we are talking about here on their minds... Of course, in the movie the parasites were from outer space (then again, I think there has been evidence that some single-celled organisms, under the right circumstances, might be able to survive, in stasis, space - say hitching a ride on a rock that some other rock might have kicked up off the surface of some distant planet...)

WHOA!!! I never said that. I said warm countries with poor sanitation.
Don't read things into what people write that isn't there. If I'd meant poor, I would have said poor.

I'm thinking of a study published not long ago in The New England Journal of Medicine (or some medical journal) that disputes the CDC numbers and claims it's actually less than 1% in the U.S.

And we need some liberty too, not to forget. ^^


• Effects of T. gondii on personality traits of humans

Jaroslav Flegr (SMRI grantee) and his colleagues at Charles University in Prague have, since 1992, been studying the effects of T. gondii infection on human personality traits and behavior. Utilizing university students, military recruits, and blood donors, Flegr et al. have administered a series of personality questionnaires and compared individuals with and without antibodies to T. gondii. Infected men were shown to be more expedient, suspicious, jealous, and dogmatic, whereas infected women had more warmth and superego strength. Flegr has summarized these findings (Flegr J, Effects of Toxoplasma on human behavior, Schizophr Bull 2007;33:757–760).



• Effects of T. gondii on the behavior of humans

Flegr et al. also compared his infected and uninfected groups on reaction time as measured by a standard computerized test. Infected individuals performed significantly more poorly and appeared to lose their concentration more quickly (Havlicek J, Gasova Z, Smith AP et al., Decrease in psychomotor performance in subjects with latent ‘asymptomatic’ toxoplasmosis, Parasitology 2001;122:515–520).

Flegr et al. also compared the sera of 146 individuals deemed to have been responsible for causing a motor vehicle accident, with 446 controls. Those individuals who had antibodies to T. gondii, compared with those without antibodies, had more than twice the risk of having caused a motor vehicle accident (Flegr J, Havlicek J, Kodym P et al., Increased risk of traffic accidents in subjects with latent toxoplasmosis: a retrospective case-control study, BMC Infect Dis 2002;2:11).

In Turkey, Yereli et al. replicated the association between traffic accidents and T. gondii infection. In a case-control study, they compared 185 individuals “who were involved in a traffic accident while driving,” with 185 matched controls. T. gondii antibodies were found in 24 percent of those involved in traffic accidents, compared with 6 percent of the controls (p<0.05) (Yereli K, Balcioglu IC, Ozbilgin A, Is Toxoplasma gondii a potential risk for traffic accidents in Turkey? Forensic Sci Int 2006;163:34–37).

Actually, the Fed just might be a real symptom of Toxoplasmosis infection... At least the decision, at the time, to create it... if it affects moral decision making processes to the negative.

Sorry, i misunderstood/misread your post, didn´t want you to appear in bad light. My english is ok, but fairly extendable, so erros and misunderstandings happen often to me, hope you excuse.

That´s the way of thinking i like! How many bad events were possibly caused by this? Why don´t they try to rot the parasite?
Maybe it is useful for TPTB?

forgot link 5 posts above:
[link to www.stanleyresearch.org]
IV. Effects of T. gondii on Behavior and Psychiatric Symptoms

OK, i´ll be back in a few hours, hope there is still some discussion when i return.
Thanks for all the good posts, good discussion!

Thanks for posting this info OP important great stuff

The possibility of Viruses affecting human behavior and development might be key to how we became human as well. I'll have to research it again (arm-chair Google style, of course), but I think most, if not all, of the DNA that separates humans from chimpanzees (esp. Bonobo Chimps) can be found specifically in viruses.

This is some scary shit!

How the hell did they do all those studies in all the countries to determine the different reactions and environmental variations producing other effects?

Almost sounds like another virus invented by the pharm industry to later start selling drugs to control it.

Cat Parasite Affects Everything We Feel and Do
Research Shows That a Certain Cat Parasite Affects Our Behavior and Mood


Kevin Lafferty is a smart, cautious, thoughtful scientist who doesn't hate cats, but he has put forth a provocative theory that suggests that a clever cat parasite may alter human cultures on a massive scale.

His phone hasn't stopped ringing since he published one of the strangest research papers to come out of the mill in quite awhile.

The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet, and it has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways.

Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others, while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring. But both men and women who are infected are more prone to feeling guilty and insecure.

Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia. In an adult, the symptoms are like a mild form of flu, but it can be much more serious in an infant or fetus. Oxford University researchers believe high levels of the parasite leads to hyperactivity and lower IQs in children.

Lafferty, who is a parasite ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is an expert on the role parasites play in the ecology of other animals.

Building on research by scientists in the Czech Republic, Lafferty took a long look at areas of the globe where infection levels are quite high, or quite low. In Brazil, for example, two out of three women of child-bearing age are infected, whereas in the United States the number is only one out of eight.

Lafferty argues in a research paper published Aug. 2 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology, that aggregate personality types, or what cultures tend to be like, fit neatly with the effects that the parasite produces in individuals.

So that led to a basic question:

Can a common cat parasite account for part -- even if only a very small part -- of the cultural differences seen around the world?

From Lafferty's perspective, that's quite likely, although he admits his theory is a bit off the wall.

"It's kind of way out in left field," he says. "I think it's the strangest thing I've ever worked on."

Bizarre, perhaps, but less so considering the wily parasite that lays the foundation for Lafferty's theory.

Toxoplasma, he notes, is "frighteningly amazing."

It can change the personality of a rat so much that the rat surrenders itself to a cat, just as the parasite wanted.

The parasite's eggs are shed in a cat's feces. A rat comes along, eats the feces, and becomes infected. The behavior of the rat undergoes a dramatic change, making the rat more adventuresome and more likely to hang out around cats.

The cat eats the rat, and the parasite completes its life cycle.

That manipulation of the local ecology is not unusual for a parasite, Lafferty says.

"This is something that many parasites do," he says. "Many manipulate hosts' behavior."

So it wasn't much of a jump to the next question.

"We have a parasite in our brain that is trying to get transmitted to a cat," he says. "This changes an individual's personality."

So if enough personalities are changed in a given society, will the culture of that society also be changed?

He's not suggesting that it's a big player in cultural evolution. Lots of other things are more powerful, ranging from geography to weather to the availability of natural resources.

But if enough of us are infected and undergo personality changes, will that also alter our combined personalities or our culture?

Lafferty admits anthropologists are not likely to embrace his theory. A single powerful leader can have a dramatic impact on a culture. We can all think of examples. But can the collective personality have a similar effect?

"Anthropologists are not in agreement that you can drive a culture from the bottom up," Lafferty says.

But he sees that happening throughout the parasitic world, involving many types of animals, so why is it inconceivable that it could also be happening among humans?

It will be a long time before we have the answer to that, if we ever do, but in the meantime here's a bit of good news.

Cat lovers need not get rid of their cats. The chances are not great that a modern cat, kept on a diet of safe cat food and not left to feed off rats, will transmit the parasite to humans. It's possible, but not likely, Lafferty says.

He ought to know. As a kid he had cats, so after he got into this line of research he assumed he had been infected with the parasite.

"So after I submitted the paper I put down my 30 bucks and got a blood test," he says. "It came out negative. I was so surprised."

And that leads him to this final comment:

"This isn't about trying to freak cat owners out," he says. "Simply having a cat as a pet doesn't mean you're going to get infected, for sure."

Of course, maybe some other parasite is making him say that.

[link to a.abcnews.com]

BEWARE OF CATS

Cat Parasite Has Changed Half The Worlds Personalities...

An American ecologist has publish a provocative research paper that suggests a cat parasite has affected the personalities of roughly half the world’s population.

The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is thought to have been transmitted to approx half the people on the planet, and research has shown it affects human personalities in different ways.



[link to www.thaimedicalnews.com]

[link to www.google.com]

Sounds like just another way to get toxic vaccines in the arms of the masses.

The cat parasite turns people into brainess sheeple. TPTB probably know this. Cats have been very popular in old Egypt for a reason.

You have to pay taxes in Germany for dogs, but not for cats. Cats are everywhere, pooing in your garden, into sand boxes, killing bird and squirrels, and you can't do anything about it.

That's okay. Gosh, I gotta run but...
The thing is I'm not sure I like the idea of associating a particular illness with posting on certain websites. I'm not sure if this is what that was though. I'll re-read the opening post later and decide then.

I actually have a lot to say that some of you may find kind of interesting but I don't have time right now. I'll try to post tonight.

I'm wondering if the cat angle is over hyped and it's more to do with eating too raw of meat, overall, with some pockets of exception. Just that men have always been considered the medical model doctors default to when defining normal, setting up research projects, and conducting studies. Women are more culturally associated with cats then men and maybe it got blown out of proportion by transfering female obsession onto cats. Does that make sense?

Sounds like a classic case to me! :P

BS, i have that parasite and i dont have any problem what so ever sooooo duuuuh pure BS, true its in cats, and true you can get it, and true also that that thing lives in your brain but that you get slower because of that and other things pure BS

Well it does go a long way in explaining why the crazy cat lady is so crazy...

Get vaccinated everyone ASAP

I told you guys about this!!!!

morgellons?

Your title is skews the reality of toxoplasmosis quite considerably. It has not infected a third of the population nor does it control them. Quoting from eMedicine's website,

"Infection with T gondii is common among humans, and it is estimated that one third of the world's population has been exposed.1 However, most infections are subclinical, and disease typically only becomes apparent in congenitally acquired infection and in patients with significant immunodeficiency such as in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)"

[link to emedicine.medscape.com]

A third has been exposed but most cases are subclinical. Subclinical simply means that there is a degree of suspicion towards the amount that have been exposed and does not suggest that the disease has been detected amongst one third of the population.

Please read into something a little more before coming up with some absurd accusation.

Shit...cat doom

:cat doom:




But, seriously, this topic is interesting. I have some friends who I wonder about. They are really into being social...the cell phone...texting....going out...and they rely on sex to define themselves. What's weird is they are also smart, and they know it's wrong but can't help themselves. And, yes they have cats...

I don't.

I knew there was a reason why I hate those dirty, mischievous and pampered overgrown rats that randomly piss in every corner. Unfortunately I have to live with two rotten cats, seeing as I'm not head of the household. Can't wait to see them dieing.

Oh, right... Does anybody know if auto urine therapy gets rid of the toxoplasma?

Anyone in this thread actually bother yet to go get tested?


Kitties = Tribbles.