Common Parasite Linked to Personality Changes

Eating a raw steak or owning a cat can make you more outgoing

Feeling sociable or reckless? You might have toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by the microscopic parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which the CDC estimates has infected about 22.5 percent of Americans older than 12 years old. Researchers tested participants for T. gondii infection and had them complete a personality questionnaire. They found that both men and women infected with T. gondii were more extroverted and less conscientious than the infection-free participants. These changes are thought to result from the parasite's influence on brain chemicals, the scientists write in the May/June issue of the European Journal of Personality.

“Toxoplasma manipulates the behavior of its animal host by increasing the concentration of dopamine and by changing levels of certain hormones,” says study author Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Although humans can carry the parasite, its life cycle must play out in cats and rodents. Infected mice and rats lose their fear of cats, increasing the chance they will be eaten, so that the parasite can then reproduce in a cat's body and spread through its feces [see “Protozoa Could Be Controlling Your Brain,” by Christof Koch, Consciousness Redux; Scientific American Mind, May/June 2011].

In humans, T. gondii's effects are more subtle; the infected population has a slightly higher rate of traffic accidents, studies have shown, and people with schizophrenia have higher rates of infection—but until recent years, the parasite was not thought to affect most people's daily lives.

In the new study, a pattern appeared in infected men: the longer they had been infected, the less conscientious they were. This correlation supports the researchers' hypothe-sis that the personality changes are a result of the parasite, rather than personality influencing the risk of infection. Past studies that used outdated personality surveys also found that toxoplasmosis-related personality changes increased with the length of infection.

T. gondii is most commonly contracted through exposure to undercooked contaminated meat (the rates of infection in France are much higher than in the U.S.), unwashed fruits or vegetables from contaminated soil, and tainted cat litter. The parasite is the reason pregnant women are advised not to clean litter boxes: T. gondii can do much more damage to the fetal brain than the personality tweak it inflicts on adults.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/common-parasite-linked-to-personality-changes/

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Parasites - Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma infection)

Toxoplasmosis is considered to be a leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More than 40 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.
However, women newly infected with Toxoplasma during or shortly before pregnancy and anyone with a compromised immune system should be aware that toxoplasmosis can have severe consequences.
Toxoplasmosis is considered one of the neglected parasitic infections of the United States, a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted by CDC for public health action.

Image: Toxoplasma gondii in mouse ascitic fluid. Smear. (Credit: DPDx)

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/

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人と動物の共通感染症に関するガイドライン
https://www.env.go.jp/nature/dobutsu/aigo/2_data/pamph/infection/guideline.pdf

トキソプラズマが人の脳を操る仕組み

http://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/nng/article/news/14/7449/

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起業したい人は猫のウ●コ食べればできるかも！（良い子は真似しないように、危険です）

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[大阪]野良猫への餌やりから口論となり、同じマンションに住む男性をカッターで切りつけ。(2015/06)
[東京]野良猫に餌をあげ、隣人に注意された事に怒り果物ナイフで切りつけ。(2015/05)
[福岡]「野良猫に餌をやるな」と注意されて激怒し、57歳男性の顔面を殴る。(2014/11)
[静岡]よく公園で餌やりしていた犯人が、市主導で野良猫駆除を行っていた男性の胸倉を掴みカッターで脅す。(2011/03)
[船橋]女性から野良猫の餌やりを注意され、その帰宅を待ち伏せして包丁で刺殺。(2009/08)
[川崎]アパートの大家に餌やりを注意され逆上、大家を刺殺し義理の娘にも重症を負わせる。(2008/06)
[大阪]猫被害の苦情を言いに来たアパートの隣人を包丁で刺す。(2007/07)
[尼崎]猫の餌付けに苦情を言った人の部屋へ包丁を持って押し込み乱闘に。(2005/04)

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猫オタのロリコン勝又拓哉が2005年栃木県今市市で下校途中の７歳の女児を車で拉致して
わいせつ行為をしたあとに胸をメッタ刺しにして殺害して雑木林に遺棄した残虐な事件
勝又拓哉の飼っていた希少種の猫の毛が女児の遺体の付着していたことが逮捕の決め手

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猫オタが起こした猟奇殺人事件「神戸小1女児バラバラ殺害事件」

猫オタのロリコン君野康弘が2014.年に神戸市長田区で6歳の女児を家に連れ込んで
殺害してわいせつ行為をした後に遺体をバラバラにしてビニール袋に入れて遺棄した残虐な事件
君野康弘は飼ってる猫を餌に猫好き女児を家に連れ込んでいた勝又被告、控訴審も有罪　今市事件で東京高裁
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2005年12月、日光市（旧今市市）大沢小1年だった吉田有希ちゃん=当時（7）=が殺害された
今市事件で、殺人罪に問われた鹿沼市西沢町、無職勝又拓哉被告（36）の控訴審判決公判が
3日午前、東京高裁で開かれた。藤井敏明裁判長は、無期懲役を言い渡した一審宇都宮地裁の
裁判員裁判判決を破棄したが、被告に無期懲役を言い渡した。

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180803-03057321-soon-l09

弓形蟲→弓形蟲感染症目前尚無有效可施打之疫苗。

淡水錦元棉被店

2018年12月28日星期五