Real Life Mind Control

Hey all y’all, what is your favourite obligate intracellular parasite?  What’s that?  You don’t have a favourite obligate intracellular parasite?  Never fear, you can share mine.  I present to you…  TOXOPLASMA GONDII!  I’ve been fascinated by toxoplasma gondii for almost a decade now.  Call me a nerd all you like, but this is one awesome protozoan.

What is it?

T. gondii is a parasite which can asexually reproduce within nearly all warm-blooded mammals.  However, the only place it can sexually reproduce is in the intestines of a cat.

For  T. gondii, being in a cat is like being at a bar where everyone is hot, drunk, and horny with very low standards.  PARTY PARTY PARTY.  Unfortunately, there are no tiny taxi cabs for T. gondii to get safely to the party in, so instead they must use mice as their main means of transportation.  But wait, mice don’t like cats so how does that work?  T. gondii actually changes the way a mouse’s brain works and causes it to no longer fear cats.  In fact, infected mice will actively seek out cats.  Therefore, the cat will eat the mouse and during the digestion process, T. gondii ends up in a cat intestine right where it wants to be.

What happens next?

After T. gondii is done partying in a cat and has successfully reproduced, the eventual outcome is oocysts which are released in a cat’s feces.  When a human is infected with the resulting virus, they may experience flu symptoms, but for the most part it is unnoticeable, with exceptions for people with weakened immunity.  (This is why pregnant ladies should steer clear of changing their kitty’s litter box.)  Not everyone who has a cat will be infected though.  If your cat has never eaten a mouse, he probably doesn’t have any T. gondii raging inside him.  T. gondii affects only about 25-60% of humans, depending on what part of the world they live in.

However, what happens to those 25-60% is quite interesting.  Studies have shown that T. gondii doesn’t just control mouse brains, it also could control your brain.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

In studies, infected men have been rated by women as being more dominant and masculine.  Studies also show that infected men tend to have lower levels of intelligence and engage more frequently in risk-taking activities.  Infected women, on the other hand, often have higher levels of intelligence and tend to show more warmth towards others.  People of both genders have been shown to seek out “novelty” and are involved in more car collisions (possibly due to higher risk-taking behaviour).

Perhaps most interestingly, individuals infected with T. gondii are almost three times more likely to develop schizophrenia than the general population (though it is still unknown exactly how this correlation works).  So if you know a crazy cat lady, you might just be able to blame it on her cats.

So, have I got you guys convinced?  Are you now as intrigued by toxoplasma gondii as I am?  And am I only this intrigued because some tiny partiers inside my cat are telling me that I am?

Jazmin

Sources:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3109627/

http://genome.cshlp.org/content/16/9/1119.long

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_culture-shaping_parasite/

http://www.economist.com/node/16271339?story_id=16271339