# Link hypothesized between exposure to cats in childhood and schizophrenia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540 "2005-11-11T05:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/1 "2005-11-11T05:43:16Z")
[Link between exposure to cats in childhood and schizophrenia.](http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20051109-014734-1470r) > [@](#): > > Cat parasite linked to schizophrenia? > WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) – A Washington psychiatrist believes there is a link between exposure to cats in childhood and schizophrenia. > > Dr. Fuller Torrey says that he has noticed that schizophrenics were more likely to have had cats when they were very young or mothers who had cats while pregnant. > > Torrey told the New York Daily News that his wife thinks he is going to be killed by cat lovers. But he still believes that there is a link between early exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cats, and schizophrenia. > > “Not only cats, but virtually all animals carry transmissible agents, and some carry transmissible agents that have had profound implications for the human race,” Torrey said. [Pet Theory Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia?](http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Schizovirus.html) > [@](#): > > 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.” ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/2 "2005-11-11T06:11:46Z")
::looks at recently adopted cat:: ::looks at baby stuff:: What if I sterilized it? That’d kill the germs…I have a microwave steam sterilizer… hmmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/3 "2005-11-11T06:23:35Z")
Given these quotes from the OP, I’m skeptical. > [@from quoted text in the OP](#): > > they’re trying to prove that toxoplasmosis is but one of several infectious diseases that cause most cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. > [@from quoted text in the OP](#): > > “Not only cats, but virtually all animals carry transmissible agents, and some carry transmissible agents that have had profound implications for the human race,” Torrey said. How are we to keep our children away from most/all/many animals to prevent these illnesses? Can they get it just by eating meat or petting them? What about breathing the same air? It doesn’t add up IMO, and is more akin to scaremongering. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/4 "2005-11-11T06:29:33Z")
How does that explain that schizophrenia tends to run in families? ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/5 "2005-11-11T06:31:17Z")
I sure hope that involves microwaving some knida steam thing, **inkleberry**. 'Cuz microwaving cats rarely turns out well. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/6 "2005-11-11T06:34:31Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > I sure hope that involves microwaving some knida steam thing, **inkleberry**. 'Cuz microwaving cats rarely turns out well. Well, the cat would have to be in the steamer. Otherwise, how could it get sterile? Well, I guess there _is_ the dishwasher… ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/7 "2005-11-11T07:09:39Z")
> [@](#): > > It helps their case that previous explanations – bad mothering, bad genes – have proven deficient to varying degrees. That’s some acme grade A super duper scientific reasoning, that is! I wonder if this guy is related to Behe and Dembski? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/8 "2005-11-11T12:32:55Z")
Well, for a while it was evil humors that could be dialysed away. In the '70s schizophrenia was treated in some centers with hemodialysis. Apparently, a few renal patients with per-existing schizophrenia got better when they started dialysis. The final outcome was that the dialysis made them better because they (the patients) thought it worked. :dubious: Even though it did make it easier for them to deal with society, the consensus was that it was actually fueling their delusions, so it was discontinued. Seems if it helped them live relatively normal lives, why not continue. :smack: Maybe the_Toxoplasma gondii_ caused the evil humors… By the way, the author doesn’t say that cats cause schizophrenia, he says _Toxoplasma gondii_ may cause it. I believe he rationalizes the familial trends by assuming the infection was shortly after birth or even in utero. Cats that have never eaten a rodent are less likely to carry _Toxoplasma gondii_, like indoor cats. I’ve had cats that couldn’t catch a mouse if it surrendered, in fact, one such cat happened to be in an enclosed space with a mouse. He gave it a bath. Steaming your cat is a bad idea. [Outcome](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Humor/Music/cats_in_the_kettle.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-hypothesized-between-exposure-to-cats-in-childhood-and-schizophrenia/330540/9 "2005-11-11T12:39:58Z")
Apparently, this isn’t a new idea: [Schizophrenia.com - Schizophrenia Causes and Prevention, cat virus exposure](http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/cats.html) > [@picunurse](#): > > Steaming your cat is a bad idea. [Outcome](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Humor/Music/cats_in_the_kettle.htm) That’s evil, **picunurse** , just plain evil!! 😃