Quote:Certainly Flegr’s thinking is jarringly unconventional. Starting in the early 1990s, he began to suspect that a single-celled parasite in the protozoan family was subtly manipulating his personality, causing him to behave in strange, often self-destructive ways. And if it was messing with his mind, he reasoned, it was probably doing the same to others.

The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats’ litter boxes. Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease’s end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that’s the standard medical wisdom.

But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”

So the lesson is be safe when handling waste material?

You realize wiping your ass can have quite the effect on your system if done improperly too right?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arch...zy/8873/2/

Quote:Certainly Flegr’s thinking is jarringly unconventional. Starting in the early 1990s, he began to suspect that a single-celled parasite in the protozoan family was subtly manipulating his personality, causing him to behave in strange, often self-destructive ways. And if it was messing with his mind, he reasoned, it was probably doing the same to others.

The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats’ litter boxes. Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease’s end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that’s the standard medical wisdom.

But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”

I'm totally a frumpy antisocial overly suspicious guy who thrives on the odor of marijuana that smells like cat urine "cat piss buds"...for quite some time I suspected the scizo voices in my head were in fact caused by micro parasites living in my brain, grouped in cysts, controlling my thoughts....

finally, there's proof...

LoP Guest  Wrote:

I'm totally a frumpy antisocial overly suspicious guy who thrives on the odor of marijuana that smells like cat urine "cat piss buds"...for quite some time I suspected the scizo voices in my head were in fact caused by micro parasites living in my brain, grouped in cysts, controlling my thoughts....

finally, there's proof...

wanna fool around?

Astrochik  Wrote:

LoP Guest  Wrote:

I'm totally a frumpy antisocial overly suspicious guy who thrives on the odor of marijuana that smells like cat urine "cat piss buds"...for quite some time I suspected the scizo voices in my head were in fact caused by micro parasites living in my brain, grouped in cysts, controlling my thoughts....

finally, there's proof...

wanna fool around?

i bet you say that to all the....

LoP Guest  Wrote:

I'm totally a frumpy antisocial overly suspicious guy who thrives on the odor of marijuana that smells like cat urine "cat piss buds"...for quite some time I suspected the scizo voices in my head were in fact caused by micro parasites living in my brain, grouped in cysts, controlling my thoughts....

finally, there's proof...

wanna fool around?

holy cat shiat

link to image: http://imgupld.lunaticoutpost.com/graphi...419956.jpg