CAT PARASITE
Cat parasite control human thinking? is this Possible? Cats have the reputation of being remote and distant, when they are really adorable, love small floofballs with serious problems of confidence. Once you’ve gained that confidence, you’ll never be cold again, but talk to those who hate cats and you may hear that all this love comes at a price: parasites that drift into the brain and a potential for mental control, in the manner of a wicked Bond.
CAN A CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING
Do not listen to these people. The mental control they are talking about is actually the work of a tiny cat parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and it’s such a strange – but fascinating – thing that we still do not know exactly how it works. We know that Fluffykins is guilty of nothing but living in the circle of life and that he does not really control your mind.
Something else is. May be. A little. It’s complicated, so let’s talk about why a cat parasite hibernating in your brain might be a good thing and why there’s absolutely no reason to live in fear of cats.They are probably looking at ghosts, and then you should be very scared.
CAT PARASITE IN BRAIN
You have probably heard that cats are one of the main carriers of Toxoplasma gondii , the unicellular parasite that causes everyone. Specifically, parasites live in cat feces, but this is not the only place where you can find it. You can also eat it by eating contaminated meat. According to the CDC, it is usually pork, venison and lamb, although any under cooked meat is a potential risk. You may also come into contact with the product in the soil, unwashed fruits and vegetables or food prepared in a kitchen where cross-contamination is the norm.
CAT PARASITE IN BRAIN CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING
It’s almost terribly common. According to the CDC, about 60 million American residents live with this small hitchhiker and, according to the Atlantic, researchers estimate that about a third of the world’s population has one. In other words, you might as well name yours now, because there is a good chance that you have it. And there are tests that can detect it, if you’re curious.
You probably would not know that you caught him. When you are infected for the first time, you could catch what looks like a cold. This happens and your immune system keeps it online. Only if your immune system is seriously compromised could it begin to cause damage, and if it does, it will attack your brain and your eyes. Yuck. It is estimated that as many people die as malaria.
HISTORY OF CAT PARASITE
The story of how we discovered Toxo’s powers is quite brilliant and proves that science is going on in a strange way. In the 1990s, a Czech scientist, Dr. Jaroslav Flegr, was convinced that a parasite was living in his brain, influencing his personality and guiding his decisions. Ha, mad scientist, no? Not this time.
Flegr told The Atlantic that his work began when he read a book about the flat worm, which invaded the ants’ nervous systems and paralyzed them into easy prey for the sheep – the worm’s final destination. This made him watch his own behavior and he realized that he was developing a tendency to do crazy things. He entered the traffic, crossed busy streets without looking and even spoke openly of his aversion to the communists in power. The shots did not bother him and he realized it was not normal.
He went to Charles University in 1990 and joined a thorough study on Toxo. CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING. There, he was able to examine the infected individuals and the life cycle of the parasite. Essentially, the parasite can only reproduce in a cat. Once he has left the cat, he has to go back – or die trying. Since humans are not usually prey for cats, most of us are a “dead end” host … or are we?
INTRODUCTION OF TOXOPLASMA GONDI (CAT PARASITE)?
It belongs to coccidian parasites. The name toxoplasma derived from “toxon” arc or bow ( curved shape of the tachyzoites) Phylum – sporozoa. Three morphological forms Asexual forms Tachyzoite Bradyzoite (Tissue cyst) Sexual form oocyst.. Toxoplasma gondii has very low host specificity and will probably infect almost all mammals. It has also been reported in birds and has been found in virtually every country in the world. Like most Apicomplexes, Toxoplasma is an obligate intracellular parasite. Its life cycle includes two phases called intestinal (or enteroepithelial) and extra-intestinal phases.
Oocysts:
- Oval in shape & size is 12 – 10 µm.
- Oocysts are very resistant.
- Sporulated oocysts have 2 sporocysts with 4 sporozoites.
TOXOPLASMA GONDI CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING
Tachyzoites:
- Cells are crescent shaped & measure 2 – 3 X 5 – 6 µm.
- Found in fibroblasts, hepatocytes,
- Myocardial cells.
- Each cell may have 8 – 32 organisms.
- May be in Body secretions.
LIFE CYCLE TOXOPLASMA GONDI
TRANSMISSION
Cats:
- Ingesting sporulated oocysts.
- Infected meat / infected rodents.
Humans:
- Ingesting sporulated oocysts.
- Infected & under cooked meat.
- Sheep / other mammals:
- Ingesting sporulated oocysts.
MODIFYING BEHAVIOR OF CAT PARASITE
By the time Flegr started research, they had already discovered something strange about infected rats. They were more active, less cautious and more likely to walk in open spaces. Joanne Webster, parasitologist at Imperial College London presented the smell of a cat. She put the infected rats in pens with different areas treated with different odors: cat urine, rabbit urine and the rat’s own smell. Rats have become so obsessed with cat odor that researchers have dubbed it “fatal feline attraction”.
“Rats are not people!” You scream. But chimpanzees are more human than some people you probably know. In 2016, Gabonese researchers presented to infected and uninfected chimpanzees the scent of their natural predator, the leopard. The infected chimpanzees were all on the lookout for the smell while their uninfected counterparts were not so enthusiastic, but when the scientists exposed them to the smells of lions and tigers – not their natural predators – there was no difference.
The conclusion is strange: the cat parasite changes its behavior to make it more likely to be eaten by a cat predator. Another piece of the puzzle was provided by research from the National Institutes of Health in 2011, when researchers discovered the presence of Toxo in activated rats in sex-related parts of the brain. Instead of causing fear, the smell of cats lit the rats. Fatal attraction, indeed.
CAT PARASITE EFFECT ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR
The influence of Toxo on human behavior was only documented in 2002, when Dr. Flegr discovered that the parasite was altering human behavior, just as he was guiding the hosts rats and chimpanzees into the jaw of their feline predators. A difference in behavior he noticed in himself was his tendency to forget car horns and he also started to cross the street without looking. It is therefore not surprising that he found his first proof by analyzing traffic trends.
Infected drivers were about 2.6 times more likely to find themselves on the sidewalk after a car accident. Flegr compared this human version of risk-taking behavior to that of rats and chimpanzees, and that’s a big problem. This was the first indication that the parasite we thought was harmless and totally under our control was actually affecting us. It’s a serious thing about conspiracy theory.
ONCE, WE WERE PREY CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING
Vice has met Flegr to discuss his work in depth and he has some fascinating things to say about why we are part of this cycle. At a glance, it does not make much sense. When was the last time you heard about someone being eaten by a cat? (Aside from occasional rumors, someone’s head of household ate them after their death, which happened very rarely.)
But Flegr says that we have already been a very viable vehicle for bringing Toxo back into cats and, in some parts of the world, we still are. He suggests that thousands of years ago, those eyes that glowed in the dark were a very real danger and that Toxo’s contribution to our poor lifestyle choices was intended to make us more likely to be eaten by this lion. or this tiger. Flegr says he found evidence in personality questionnaires given to infected and uninfected people, and said that infected people are less afraid of things like the forest or the deepest, darkest night. In other words, they are the first to attract big cats that hunt at night.
IS CAT PARASITE GOOD FOR HUMANS
Absolutely none of this sounds good, right? The idea that we do not control our own emotions or behaviors is a terrifying prospect, and that’s why some people swear by the tinfoil hat. But other research has shown that it is almost impossible to say how it would affect us.
Ann-Kathrin Stock, from the University of Dresden (via The Atlantic), puts it this way: “It interferes with brain chemistry, but the parasite itself does not intend to harm someone He always acts according to the same mechanism: humans are very rarely the prey of cats, and that is no use for their purpose. ”
And that means that at the end of the day, the effects of the parasite on humans are pretty bright. There have been links to an increased likelihood of developing a mental illness, but Stock’s work also shows that good changes can also be made. His team found that infected people had faster response times when they had to respond to changing stimuli. There is also evidence that Toxo increases the amount of dopamine – it’s the chemical that does good – in the brain. In the rat, it is specific to the pathway that attracts it to the cat, but in humans, it is more complicated. The whole system is flooded and different people can have different reactions.
TOXOPLASMA GONDI EFFECT ON IMMUNE SYSTEM
The researchers actually discovered the process used by Toxo to infect what is essentially a temporary host. Scientists in Melbourne discovered that the parasite was diverting a healthy human cell to create a kind of bunker that provides everything it needs to survive the dormant state. The cell releases proteins into the human cell, which then manipulates a person’s chemistry to store starches – think of a bear hibernating during the winter.
Fortunately, our immune system is aware of these things, at least in healthy people. Science is still working to identify specific mechanisms, but it knows that a healthy immune system will form cysts around small pockets of Toxo. Joanne Webster of Imperial College London believes it is possible that high levels of dopamine are due to cysts and the increase of a particular enzyme that is essential for cyst and dopamine development . The type of cyst impact on the brain tissue that surrounds it is not entirely clear – not yet, at least.
OTHER PARASITE SIMILAR TO TOXOPLASMA
As if a parasite controlling the mind was not enough, it was by no means a creature setting a precedent. Let’s take a look at one of the others, a parasitic wasp called Polysphincta gutfreundi. Scientists at the Smithsonian conducted a series of experiments to see what kind of wasps effect had on the life cycle of orb spiders, and the results were quite strange.
The researchers found that the wasps had a weird way of disguising their cocoons. Basically, females lay their eggs on the spider and when they hatch, the larvae begin their life by puncturing the spider’s skin and feeding on their host. During the week, they attack the spider. Scientists believe they are also injecting him with a chemical substance that diverts the mind and influences the way they spin their webs. Instead of the delicate canvases they usually make, they start making canvases that seem to have been influenced by a bad trip with LSD. Once the larvae have matured a bit and the web is finished, it kills the spiders, throws it aside and builds a cocoon in the center of the canvas. The wasp matures, hatches, and the cycle begins again. You never thought you would have pity on a spider, would you?
DOES CAT PARASITE MAKE HUMANS CRAZY
One of the things you may have heard about the Toxo parasite is that it makes people more vulnerable to mental illness, especially schizophrenia. It’s terrifying, but a 2016 study from Duke University examined more than 1,000 people and found that there was no link between infection and mental illness. About 28% of their sample group (made up of people born in New Zealand in the early 1970s) were infected and finally showed no correlation between infection and IQ, depression, schizophrenia, traffic law, compensation claims or criminal convictions. Other studies – including one with a sample of 7,440 people – failed to establish a link between Toxo infection and mood disorders.
University College London also examined the statement that when cats are present in the household of a pregnant woman or a child, the child is more likely to suffer from mental illness. Good news for cat lovers: in the 5,000-person sample pool, no link was found between cat ownership and mental illness or disability. Vindicated!
Now let’s move on to your cat’s role in all of this. It is undeniable that they play a vital role in the life cycle of this strange cat parasite, but according to the CDC, there is absolutely no reason to abandon your cat, even if a person in the house is in plan or plan to become pregnant. However, they recommend that pregnant women stop cleaning litter. Who said there was no benefit to being pregnant?
They also say that there is virtually no chance of contracting the parasite by stroking even an infected cat because it is not transmitted by the fur. All this is a great reason to keep your cats indoors because the CDC says they are infected by eating small animals carrying the parasite. Keep them indoors and the problem is non-existent. And you can absolutely start this now. Because the cat is part of Toxo’s life cycle, it can only transmit the infection about two weeks after being infected. The parasite itself dies between one and five days after being eliminated from the cat system, so you can not blame Fluffykins. this is all about CAT PARASITE CONTROL HUMAN THINKING.
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