4 ms·
Maybe they're just cat owners⁽¹⁾. ⁽¹⁾ Presence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in brain as a potential cause of risky behavior: a report of 102 autopsy cases. S
by inopinatus 6y ago
Maybe they're just cat owners⁽¹⁾.
⁽¹⁾ Presence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in brain as a potential cause of risky behavior: a report of 102 autopsy cases. Samojłowicz, Twarowska-Małczyńska, Borowska-Solonynko et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 38, 305–317 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3427-z https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-018-3427-z
- akiselev 6y agoThe CDC estimates a tenth of the US over the age of six has taxoplasmosis [1]. It's so prevalent, it's hardly specific to tech. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html#:~:text=Toxoplasmosis%20is%20caused%20by%20the,have%20been%20infected%20with%20Toxoplasma https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html#:~:text....
- casefields 6y agoI feel like everything and nothing has been attributed to it at some point.
- CamperBob2 6y agoThe notion that T. gondii is the only behavior-altering parasitic organism out there is, of course, completely unsupported. It would be an "extraordinary claim" in its own right.
- inopinatus 6y agoSure, sure. That is just what someone whose brain is parasitically subjugated by their cat would say.
- s5300 6y agoHookworm is a hell of a drug https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-south-a-bad-name/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-so... Feel free to give this some amplification outside of HN if you've never seen it before. I think it's... quite important to be aware of.
- the_only_law 6y agoMan idk why, but parasitic diseases always seem more horrifying to me than the worst viruses and bacteria.
- framecowbird 6y agoYeah, somehow a parasite feels like it has more agency and intent than a virus...
- eitland 6y ago20 or so years ago, back when I worked at farms, I read that people with Toxoplasma infections were overrepresented among those who were killed in traffic accidents[1][2]. [1]: this is a long time ago so my memory is a bit hazy, I cannot say for sure if it specified drivers or everybody who was killed in traffic accidents. [2]: Of course correlation doesn't imply causation, and this wasn't a research report but rather an ordinary book.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- coldtea 6y ago>Maybe they're just cat owners⁽¹⁾. So like a billion other people with cats, or hundreds of millions with toxoplasma?