Following on from the ‘Can cat poop cause schizophrenia ?’ question, New Scientist magazine just published the following article about the links between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenic behaivour.
It may actually be an evolutionary advantage for ‘el pussy cato’. Any rat that escapes death but gets scratched in the proccess, may later develop ‘suicidal toxoplasmosis’. Our hungry feline only has to sit back and wait for ratus norwegus to join him for dinner. No wonder my cat is so damm lazy !
Link: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18925365.000.html
The parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasma gondii, manipulates rat behaviour in order to complete its reproductive cycle in the cat. Joanne Webster’s team at Imperial College London found that rats infected with the parasite chose to spend nearly three times as much time in containers holding woodchips treated with feline urine as did uninfected rats. When given anti-Toxoplasma drugs, they spent 30 per cent less time in the feline-scented area.
First, I’ve edited your post to delete most of the copyrighted material. We tend to be pretty strict about copyrights around here. In general, quoting more than a paragraph or so is probably too much. Not a huge deal. Next time you’ll know.
What studies support the claim that toxoplasmosis actually produces or causes the subject’s body to produce LSD? Also, if that is indeed the mechanism by which toxoplasma causes schizophrenic behavior in human beings, how is it that typical antipsychotics can control/reverse symptoms of schizophrenia caused by toxoplasmosis when they can’t actually end acid trips, only immobilize the person/subject experiencing the acid trip.
I mean, it sort of makes sense that a rat tripping on acid might not pay as much attention to signs of predators, but how would an antipsychotic tranquilizer make it more aware of those danger signs by merely immobilizing/sedating it? And in addition to the fact that the typical effects of acid are incongruous with the typical symptoms of schizophrenia, the vast majority of acid users don’t ever exhibit schizophrenic/psychotic behavior; so how can a–supposedly–acid-trip-inducing-parasite be the cause of schizophrenia in human individuals?