Your cat may be letting you crazy

Your cat may be letting you crazy - The parasite in the brain


( Jaroslav Flegr Czech scientist who claims that the parasite toxoplasmosis can control our mind Photo credit : . Michal Novotný )

The Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr has made important studies on the possibility that the worm responsible for toxoplasmosis (a disease transmitted through the feces of cats ) can affect behavior and even cause schizophrenia in humans.
If you think this is just another crazy theory these bunches circulating the Internet , watch what you will read below as the arguments raised by Jaroslav Flegr are quite compelling and has raised the interest of renowned scientists worldwide .
The Czech scientist began his research 63 years from the idea that he was infected by a parasite in the brain that could be affecting their behavior . What seemed to be just paranoia began to gain the scientific background as his research progressed . The findings of Jaroslav are frightening .
Is it really possible that parasites transmitted by cats can become lodged in our brain and affect our thoughts from the point of causing traffic accidents to schizophrenia ?
Suspicions of this researcher, who despite having zany guy has a respectable resume in scientific circles , started from 1990s . He began to suspect that a single-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii , the family of protozoa was affecting so subtle personality. This would be the cause for his strange and often even self - destructive behavior .
The PARASITES OF TOXOPLASMOSIS
The parasite , T. gondii , cats excreted by the faeces , is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis . Since 1920 it is known that if a pregnant woman is infected with this parasite it can transmit the disease to the fetus may cause you serious brain damage and even death .
Toxoplasma gondii is even more dangerous for people with low immunity . This problem was detected especially in the early years of the emergence of AIDS , when there were no good anti - retroviral drugs . At that time the T. gondii was associated with dementia that afflicts AIDS patients at the end stage of the disease .
Healthy people , the contracting toxoplasmosis usually have symptoms similar to those caused by influenza during the period that the body fights disease . According to the medicine pattern , following this stage, the parasite is then dormant cells within the brain.
But contrary to what was thought previously , the scientist Jaroslav Flegr , thinks the parasite " latent " may actually be changing our nerve connections quietly changing our response to situations of fear , our trust in others , our willingness to leave home, and even our preference for certain scents .
Jaroslav , who is an evolutionary biologist at Charles University , Prague , reaches the point of Toxoplasma gondii claim that what may be killing about 1 million people a year. And he does this estimate considering that the parasite to affect reflexes and sensation of fear , which may be contributing to occur certain automobile accidents and suicides and other mental disorders .
Jaroslav theory is not new. Makes decades he formulated it . Maybe she never earned notoriety primarily due to his difficulty with the English language and his style closed that rarely leads to travel to attend scientific conferences .
Moreover , his unconventional ideas face much criticism . " There is a strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite. Nobody likes to feel like a puppet . " He said.
But little acceptance of his work seems to be changing . After years of being ignored he begins to be respected by many researchers in neuroscience big names like Robert Sapolsky Stanford , now admit that the studies Jaroslav Flgr are well conducted , and there is no reason to doubt them .
MASTERING THE BEHAVIOR OF HOST
Recent studies Sapolsky and other British researchers suggest that the parasite is capable of extraordinary maneuvers . Sapolsky recounts in his studies that T. gondii can reverse the natural aversion of a mouse making it unlike flee approaching end of cats, their main predator . And this amazing transformation in the rodent head is because the parasite restructures the neural circuits in parts of the brain that deal with primitive emotions such as fear , anxiety and sexual arousal .
The expert in schizophrenia, E. Fuller Torrey , director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Maryland recently stated : " I admire you for making this research Jaroslav It is not politically correct , in the sense that many laboratories are not doing it . . he almost did it on their own with very little support . guess it's worth considering it as completely believable . "
Many experts know that T. gondii is not the only parasite that can manipulate the behavior . " My guess is that there are several other examples of this occurs in mammals with parasites that have never even heard of " Sapolsky says .

A well known example is the case with the rabies virus . When he has greatly affected the neurological system of a dog, or other animal bat about to be already nearly killing , it triggers a fury the animal while nervous system to migrate from the salivary glands of the host. Then when the animal attacks and bites the virus is transmitted through their saliva to a new host .

But anger is a rare change of behavior among the large mammals caused by a parasite case. Fish , crustaceans and some insects are the preferred victims of mind control . The behavioral biologist Janice Moore of the University of Colorado says that flies , ants , caterpillars , wasps , and various other insects has been behaving strangely because the action of parasites .
The wasp Polysphincta gutfreundi , for example, if one sticks to the spider species erta and you deposit a small egg . Subsequently , a larva hatches and begins to release chemicals that cause the spider webs abandon the construction of the spiral pattern . She starts to weave its web spinning the yarn to create a cocoon that will house the larva until it reaches the adult stage .
Even more impressive is that the spider "possessed " is drawing geometric shapes that serve to camouflage the wasp cocoon protecting him from their natural predators .
SLAVES OF PARASITES
Some 30 years ago, Jaroslav impressed while reading a book by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins describes how a certain worm turns an ant on your slave, changing your nervous system . Dawkins' book reports that when the temperature drops , this ant species usually seeks shelter in the basement . But when it is infected by this worm instead of going down , she rises to the top of the grass, and is up there hanging for his jaw. Thus it is exposed to food of sheep ingest along with the grass that feeds them. " Their jaws are locked in that position , then there is nothing that the ant can do but get hung in the air ." The sheep from eating contaminated grass with ants complete the life cycle of the worm.
" It was the first time I had knowledge of this type of manipulation, it made ​​a big impression on me ," says Flegr .

After reading the book Jaroslav Flegr began to suspect that his behavior had traces of resemblance to the reckless ant. One example , he says , is when he crosses a busy street and cars honking at him . Instead of rushing out of the way of vehicles he remains calm . In the past, when in his native Czechoslovakia , it was too risky to speak out policy he showed his contempt for Communists without fear of being arrested .
When his fellow scientists panicked during a shootout in a conflict in eastern Turkey he remained quite calm . During these strange events he always wondered about what could be happening to him.
In 1990 he joined the Charles University , intituição that is a world reference in the research envolendo the effects of toxoplasmosis in the human body . As the university was also recruiting people to submit to testing kits to detect Toxoplasma gondii , Jaroslav volunteered to participate.
It was then discovered that he was carrying the parasite. For this discovery he was the key to understanding his strange self - destructive tendency .

START OF STUDIES
 Jaroslav Flegr then began to devote himself diligently in related Toxoplasma gongii studies . At first he learned that the parasite eliminated after the cat through the feces back to contaminate other animals that may ingest contaminated pasture . The parasite then re-enters the body of animals such as rodents , pigs and other livestock house going to the brain or other tissues of the body.

Have the man is contaminated by coming into contact not only with sandboxes, but also by ingesting contaminated with cat feces water. Also, eating unwashed vegetables , eating raw or undercooked meat are also other ways of being contaminated with the parasite toxoplasmosis .

He also found that the French, for his predilection for undercooked steaks , can reach the level of 55 % of the infected population. The Americans have contamização the percentage of 10-20 % .

After infecting a person or an animal , the parasite has to return to the cat , which is the only body that has the right conditions so that it can reproduce sexually . It is here that according to the theory by Jaroslav , the parasite initiate behavioral manipulation of host aiming to complete its life cycle .

MIND CONTROL

Some scientists had discovered a strange behavior in rodents infected with T. gondii that would confirm theories Flegr . These animals , they are more active than non- infected rodents , ending attracting more attention from cats since cats are instinctively attracted by fast-moving objects . Furthermore, they were less cautious, exposing more than the non-infected rodents .

 Flegr considers man as mammal, and share much of the genetic code of mice may also be vulnerable to behavioral manipulation by the parasite .

When starting your search , Flegr had a certain 'lucky' . Is that 30-40 % of Czechs have the latent form of the disease , and so was easy to get student volunteers to participate .
He began testing the reflexes and reaction time of participants using a computer program that required clench a button when they saw a symbol on the screen .

Participants who were infected by the parasite had times smaller than the other reaction.
Flegr also realized that the changes introduced by the parasites on the behavior of these people were different for men and women .

Infected compared to uninfected males were more introverted , more suspicious , and more indifferent to others' opinions and more inclined to ignore rules .

Already infected , women were just the opposite : they were more outgoing and more confident than non -infected toxoplasma .

These results impressionates left Flegr suspicious that their data were wrong . Repeated tests with other groups of people and the results were confirmed : there are many differences in the behavior of infected and uninfected with T. gondii .

The explanation for the differences in behavior between infected women compared to men infected Flegr second would be due to the fact that under emotional stress , women seek solace through social bonding and education . Have men react by becoming hostile or anti - social .

He also found that infected men become less attentive which may impair tasks like driving for example. His studies have shown that people infected has 2.5 times more likely to be involved in traffic accidents .

Two other Turkish studies also associate the Toxoplasma to traffic accidents . Considering that up to a third of people worldwide may be infected with the parasite , Flegr estimates that this parasite may be responsible for thousands of deaths annually . Especially if one considers that infected people (like Flegr ) are less likely to feel fear in dangerous situations , which may lead them to imprudent driving .


CHANGES IN BODY

At this point you may be wondering : Am I not also infected with toxoplasma ? If you like me have cats at home, so the suspicion becomes paranoid . There are specific tests for Toxoplasma that can be done if your doctor thinks indicated.

But one of the issues raised here is : Is it possible to identify if someone is infected with T. gondii only observing traces of his behavior ?
Flegr says no . This is because the changes that the parasite causes the personality of the infected are quite subtle .

An introverted person , after being infected with toxoplasma will not suddenly become extroverted . " It is impossible to detect by analyzing only one person . At least 50 should be looked infected and non- infected persons 50 to notice a significant difference . The vast majority of people have no idea they are infected. " Said Jaroslav Flegr .
But one of the most intriguing findings in research Flegr were compared to patients with schizophrenia. These people have decreased in certain parts of his cerebral cortex . Flegr think that the parasite may be responsible for this .

In an article he developed with colleagues at Charles University , including the psychiatrist Jiri Horacek , they claim that in 12 of 44 patients with schizophrenia underwent MRI , the team found reduced gray matter in the brain . This decrease was observed almost exclusively in patients infected with T. gondii .

Horacek , even declared : " To me this suggests that the parasite may trigger schizophrenia in genetically susceptible people. "

The research Flegr even more force when we consider the work of other scientists point to the same direction .

Joanne Webster a parasitologist at Imperial College London found something even more amazing in their studies with rodents infected with toxoplasma .

In an experiment they put in the 4 corners of a certain cage odors . In one corner of the cage of each rat placed the odor of the animal itself , put water in the second , the third cat urine , and urine left corner on the last one ( animal that is not predator of rats) rabbit

 Unlike the scientists who initially thought that the parasite would reduce the aversion of rats to cat odor actually the behavior of rats was attracted to the smell of cats. They spent more time on the areas treated with the smell of cats, fulfilling a certain 'Fatal Attraction ' .








DOPAMINE

Tracking the evolution of parasites in mice using fluorescent markers , the doctor was able to identify the parasite cysts form most abundant form in the part of the brain that deals with pleasure ( like sex in humans) and in another area that is involved in fear and in anxiety .

With the help Parasitologist Glenn McConkey of the University of Leeds , they found that the parasite has two genes that allow trigger the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the host brain . " We never cease to amaze us with the sophistication of these parasites ," says Webster .

Reports of surveys Webster published last year created some uproar in the scientific community . Mainly due to its conclusions about how the parasite can interfere with the production of dopamine in the host.

Dopamine is a molecule involved in fear , attention and pleasure . It is known that this neurotransmitter is present in high levels in people with schizophrenia.
The principle used by antipsychotic drugs to counter schizophrenic delusions is blocking the action of dopamine .

But to Webster this suggests that it may be actually doing is acting on the parasite . Building on previous research that has indicated the interference of these drugs on the development of T. gondii , Webster decided to apply the antipsychotic in newly infected mice to see how they react .

These animals developed the expected ' attraction to cats ' characteristic of mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii . The upshot is that the behavioral changes were related to the effect of the drug on the parasite .

OTHER FINDINGS

In another discovery made in Robert Sapolsky 's laboratory in Stanfor.d , neuroscientist and his colleagues found that T. gondii disconnects fear circuits in the brain , which may help explain why the infected mice lose their aversion to the odor of cat.

The amazing Sapolsky research indicates that the parasite while it is able to " sequester part of the circuit related to sexual arousal " in the male rat , probably increasing dopamine levels in the processing part of the brain's reward . Thus , when the animal perceives the smell of cat, instead of the fear center stay active, as expected in a normal mouse , the area that governs sexual pleasure is that it becomes activated . That is, the txoplasma make the odor of cat sexy to male rats.

The neurobiologist Ajai Vyas , after working with Sapolsky in this study at the time as a postdoctoral student , decided to inspect the testicles of infected mice , looking for signs of cysts . And he actually met them there, and in the semen of animals . When the rat copula , the protozoan enters the uterus of the female resulting in the infection of 60 percent of their puppies before traveling to the brain and reproduce increase the chance to go finish inside the belly of a cat .

One of the important issues raised is : Can the parasite toxoplasmosis also be sexually transmitted between humans ?

Vyas , who now works at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore , says that this is one of the questions they wish to be able to respond to their research .
Scientists have discovered that mice infected males suddenly become much more attractive to females . "It's a very strong effect," says Vyas . " Seventy -five percent of females prefer to stay with the infected male . "



PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Flegr just had a paper accepted for publication , he said, " proves 'Fatal Attraction ' feline also in humans . Infected He says that men , more like the smell of cat urine , ( or at least more tolerant ) than uninfected men .

Showing that the characteristics of the action of the parasite has differences between the sexes , it was found that women infected have an inverse response . They find it even more unpleasant smell than women not infected with T. gondii .


MENTAL DISEASES

The Sapolsky Neuroscientist think the inventiveness of the parasite survival and reproduction of the species may even offer us some advantages .

If somehow we can figure out how toxoplasma can act on the feeling of fear of animals , this discovery could help us develop treatments for those afflicted by social anxiety , phobias , and other related diseases.

Already Webster researcher thinks the vast majority of people , the parasite will not bring many adverse effects . People infected will demonstrate subtle changes in behavior . However , a small number of cases, infection Toxo may be linked to schizophrenia and other disorders associated with dopamine levels. An example could be cited obsessive -compulsive disorders , attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder , and mood changes .

It has to be also considered the fact that the mouse lives two to three years, while humans can be infected for many decades . Perhaps this is the reason why they are causing these serious side effects in people. The researcher concludes that we have to be wary of underestimating the action of such a common parasite.
E. Fuller Torrey The psychiatrist agrees , though he sees the issue from a different point of view Flegr or Webster .
After decades of research on the causes of schizophrenia , it has authority to speak on the subject .

Schizophrenia

" Textbooks today make silly statements that schizophrenia has been steady , with the same incidence rate worldwide , and has existed since time immemorial ."
The epidemiological literature entirely contradicts this : " In fact , he says , had schizophrenia not as siginificante increase until the second half of the 18th century , when people in Paris and London began to keep cats as pets .

The fashion of having cat began between avant-garde poets and artists left Torrey says , but the trend has spread quickly. Coincident with this increase in the incidence of schizophrenia also shot .
He notes that since the 50s , about 70 epidemiological studies have explored the link between schizophrenia and the protozoan parasite T. gondii . He says that when he and his colleague Robert Yolken , one neurovirologista at Johns Hopkins University , pored over some of those scientific reports , his conclusion was complementary to the discovery of the group of Prague : Schizophrenic patients with parasite Toxo have less gray matter in their brains .

Torrey and Yolken found that mental illness is two to three times more common in people who have the parasite compared with others in the same region .

Both scientists believe that Human Genome studies also point to the same direction which could explain why that schizophrenia runs in families .
The results more widespread this line of research suggests that the genes most commonly associated with schizophrenia are associated with the immune system and its ability to respond to infectious agents . Thus , in many cases where schizophrenia appears to be hereditary , they believe , which may indeed be indeed being transmitted is imunólgica the invaders disabilities as T. gondii parasite .

They point out that mumps , rubella and other infectious agents have also been associated with the development of schizophrenia and likely find that there are other triggers not yet identified, and many have nothing to do with pathogens .

But for now , they say , the parasite toxoplasmosis remains the strongest environmental factor involved in the disease . " If I had to guess ," says Torrey , "I'd say 75 percent of cases of schizophrenia are associated with infectious agents , and this parasite was involved in a significant subset of them . "

Torrey also states that the parasite can also increase the risk of suicide . In a 2011 study in 20 European countries , the national suicide rate among women increased in direct proportion to the prevalence of latent Toxo parasite infection in the female population of each country.
The psychiatrist Teodor Postolache , director of the Program for Anxiety and Mood School of Medicine, University of Maryland , reports that several other studies , many of them conducted by its own staff , yet providing more basis underpinning the binding of the parasite T. gondii with rates higher suicidal behavior.

These studies include investigations on the general population , including groups consisting of patients with bipolar disorder , major depression and schizophrenia . Several countries and regions have provided information , abragendo places as diverse as Turkey, Germany , and the United States .
The way the parasite can cause someone to extrapolate the limit of the preservation of life itself is yet to be determined .

Postolache think this disturbance in mood and ability to control violent impulses can not be the work of the parasite itself, but arise from neurochemical changes associated with the body's immune response to it . For more strange and complicated that this idea may seem , according Postolache , the American Foundation for Combating Suicide intended to fund research in this area .

HAVE OR NOT HAVE CATS AT HOME ?

People who have an affinity with cats ( among whom I include myself ) before all this nasty set of information related to this parasite should consider that the time has come to get rid of pussies ?

The researcher Flegr is contrary to this idea . He said cats living indoors does not represent a threat because they do not carry the parasite .
Have cats that run around the street, they eliminate the parasite in feces for only three weeks of his life , usually when they are young and begin to hunt . During this brief period , Flegr simply recommends taking care to keep kitchen counters and tables clean as well . He practices what he preaches : He have two school-age children , and two cats living free to go to the street and back into the house .

Even more important than how to prevent exposure to protozoan t . gondii , he said, is wash the vegetables and fruits rubbing them well . Also is highly recommended to avoid drinking water that has not been purified , especially in developing countries where infection rates in some regions can reach 95 % . One should also eat well spent prefer meat or even freeze it before cooking aiming to kill the cysts .

But this may not be enough to contain the increasing spread of these parasites worldwide . Experts have set their minds to adopt more stringent measures . Vaccinate cats or other animals against T. gondii can be a way to stop the cycle of life , says Robert Yolken of Johns Hopkins Hospital .

The goal is to go beyond the mere prevention . Once the parasite becomes deeply ingrained in the brain cells , get it out of the body is practically impossible : the cysts have thick walls impregnable to antibiotics.

But Yolken and other researchers seem to have already found a weak point of this parasite . As the T. gondii parasite and malaria are related scientists are trying to find more effective drugs to attack the cysts .

At the time the medicine has no treatment able to make people living get rid of latent infection . Until science proves, as some scientists seem to be doing now that the Toxo is really very dangerous , pharmaceutical companies do not have much incentive to develop anti - Toxo drugs .

Yolken is optimistic, he thinks that reality will change . " To explain the point where research on Toxo today, the analogy I always do is the ulcer bacterium . First , we need to find ways to treat the body and show that the disease is gone when you did it . We to show that when the Toxoplasma infection is effectively treated , at least a portion of psychiatric illness goes away . "

CONCLUSIONS

But the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is only one of a countless number of infectious agents that afflict us . Janice Moore of the University of Colorado says that many other infections are able to mess with our minds .

For example , she and Chris Reiber , a biomedical anthropologist at Binghamton University in New York , have strong suspicions that the flu virus can increase our desire to socialize.
Why? Because it spreads through close physical contact , often before symptoms beginning , which means that he must find a new host quickly.

Moore and Reiber monitored 36 patients who received the flu vaccine . The idea is that if the vaccine contains many of the same chemical components that live virus the immune system of the immunized person should react as if they had actually found the pathogen .

The result has been observed that people who received the vaccine nearly doubled the number of people with whom they had close contact during the phase in which the virus is most contagious .
People who had simple and modest social lives , suddenly decided they needed to go to bars or parties , or meet more people , Reiber reported .

Reiber think other human pathogens may well be making similar games with us. She says , for example , many people in the terminal stages of syphilis and AIDS express intense sexual desire . The same occurs in persons infected with herpes . Based on their own findings, the scientist thinks she would not be surprised if these impulses come from the pathogen that is actually expressing their will to survive .

The researcher concludes that "We found all sorts of excuses for the things we do . Our genes are the culprits for doing this or that. Our parents are to blame . 'm Afraid we have reached the point where the parasites have to be added to the list of excuses that we have to justify ourselves . "