here's an interesting piece by the guy who wrote parasite rex.
short form: rat brains are very similar to human brains, which is why rats get used a lot in medical research. toxoplasmosis changes some behaviors of rats. a notable percentage of humans are infected with toxoplasmosis.
I've found the possibility of toxoplasmosis altering personality to be fascinating since I first heard about it last year. At minimum, does having it make one more likely to keep cats?
I must say, commenter #55 on that article had me in stitches:
it took me 4 years of therapy (and a #@!%load of money) to isolate certain traumatic childhood events, and it turns out im insecure because cleaning the litterbox was one of my childhood chores...
I am pretty creeped out, right now. I dislike the notion of parasites riding around in my brain, yet they almost certainly are, as I've lived with cats (and cleaned litterboxes) all my life.
Don't bet on it, I've been working in the veterinary field for over 25 years, and I'm still negative. You are far more likely to catch Toxo from working bare-handed in your garden or eating rare bear meat.
That would also be true, as can eating dogs and cats (ewww). Not so rare meat can transmit trichinella, I was part of a research study at Cornell on that topic. Luckily, they didn't make us eat any dogs!
Hmm. There was a very interesting special on the BBC a while back about parasites, and the toxoplasmosis thing was mentioned. Unfortunately, some other things got mis-mentioned to the point where we were throwing soft objects at the TV in derision, so I'm not sure how seriously to take any of the rest of their "facts".
But they did make the excellent point that a lot of us *do* have wacky alien things living in our brains, so why do we assume they're just sitting there doing nothing? Whee!
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 11:19 pm (UTC)"SEE, I tested NEGATIVE! That means I can catch it. Now get in there and clean that box for the next nine months!"
no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-23 11:21 pm (UTC)Shadow plot
Date: 2006-01-24 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 01:53 am (UTC)it took me 4 years of therapy (and a #@!%load of money) to isolate
certain traumatic childhood events, and it turns out im insecure
because cleaning the litterbox was one of my childhood chores...
i want a refund
no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 01:57 am (UTC)eep.
-E
no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 02:22 am (UTC)But they did make the excellent point that a lot of us *do* have wacky alien things living in our brains, so why do we assume they're just sitting there doing nothing? Whee!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-24 02:44 am (UTC)CZ
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 06:30 am (UTC)