5 ms·

Cat parasite linked to mental illness, schizophrenia

19 points by RadixDLT 3y ago

pvaldes 3y ago
> Results showed that an individual infected with T. gondii was almost twice as likely to develop schizophrenia T. gondii came for you. Please, start to panic and howl right now while running to buy my product. Lets talk about p-hacking: About 50% of the population had Toxoplasma gondii at some point in their lives 0.35% of the population are schizophrenic. If Toxoplasma gondii really causes schizophrenia the correlation effect is not really strong or consistent. Without T. gondii "would be" 0.17%. As the huge majority of the people that suffered T. gondii infection never develops schizophrenia we could also safely conclude that having cat pets PROTECTS against schizophrenia.
- kelipso 3y ago
  No...using same argument, you would also safely conclude that smoking protects against lung cancer.
  - pvaldes 3y ago
    Exact. We could say it and it would be also wrong and silly. Because correlation is not causation necessarily, and a third actor (ehum... alcohol, drugs) could be creating that increase in mental illness. How many people that "does not have a pet cat" is schizophrenic?
Tangurena2 3y ago
There is a vaccine for toxoplasmosis, but is only available in New Zealand & Australia for sheep. Toxoplasmosis infection in sheep causes pregnant sheep to miscarry (aka "spontaneous abortions").
halfmatthalfcat 3y ago
A risk I’m willing to take for a lifetime of love, companionship and observing their infinite curiosity. (Definitely not written by an infected toxoplasmosis human)
omginternets 3y ago
>The CDC also recommends changing the cat's litter box daily Yeah, I'll get right on that. Sheesh, the risk-sensitivity of the modern medical profession is a bit ridiculous, sometimes. Edit: I'm interpreting this as "throw out all the litter and replace it with fresh litter", which anyone who owns a cat will surely agree is insanity.
- sonicanatidae 3y ago
  +1. That would be insanity and needless. Most people are exposed to more things like this, outside the home.
- dweymouth 3y ago
  Not to mention that eating undercooked meat is a bigger infection risk than living with a pet cat, especially an indoor-only cat.
- BizarroLand 3y ago
  Self-cleaning litter boxes all the way. House smells better, cat smells better, less misery for you. If you can afford it, it is a must have.
koheripbal 3y ago
It's crazy that this is so widespread, has brain disease implications, and yet there is no treatment for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide currently infected. What is likely worse is that they can only document the worst cases, and cannot measure the subtler impacts on seemingly healthy infected people. Maybe this is a major cause of ADD, or depression, or dyslexia, or autism, etc... we haven't done the research, so we aren't even bothering to test or treat a clearly extremely common infection. Its stupid.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Uh, neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism are not something that happens later in life from an infection, it's something people are born with, and it's almost certainly down to genes; do some reading on MTHFR. Your comment is alarmist nonsense that isn't much better than "vaccines cause autism".
petra 3y ago
A more recent surveying diseases which T.gondii is implicated in: https://twitter.com/GC_Milne/status/1457831246344691718 https://twitter.com/GC_Milne/status/1457831246344691718 It also has a case where curing a female from t.gondii(right after she got it) cured her depression.
pvaldes 3y ago
They keep repeating that since years, but we are still waiting for the proofs

19 points by RadixDLT 3y ago

> Results showed that an individual infected with T. gondii was almost twice as likely to develop schizophrenia T. gondii came for you. Please, start to panic and howl right now while running to buy my product. Lets talk about p-hacking: About 50% of the population had Toxoplasma gondii at some point in their lives 0.35% of the population are schizophrenic. If Toxoplasma gondii really causes schizophrenia the correlation effect is not really strong or consistent. Without T. gondii "would be" 0.17%. As the huge majority of the people that suffered T. gondii infection never develops schizophrenia we could also safely conclude that having cat pets PROTECTS against schizophrenia.

kelipso 3y ago
No...using same argument, you would also safely conclude that smoking protects against lung cancer.
- pvaldes 3y ago
  Exact. We could say it and it would be also wrong and silly. Because correlation is not causation necessarily, and a third actor (ehum... alcohol, drugs) could be creating that increase in mental illness. How many people that "does not have a pet cat" is schizophrenic?

Tangurena2 3y ago

There is a vaccine for toxoplasmosis, but is only available in New Zealand & Australia for sheep. Toxoplasmosis infection in sheep causes pregnant sheep to miscarry (aka "spontaneous abortions").

halfmatthalfcat 3y ago

A risk I’m willing to take for a lifetime of love, companionship and observing their infinite curiosity. (Definitely not written by an infected toxoplasmosis human)

omginternets 3y ago

>The CDC also recommends changing the cat's litter box daily Yeah, I'll get right on that. Sheesh, the risk-sensitivity of the modern medical profession is a bit ridiculous, sometimes. Edit: I'm interpreting this as "throw out all the litter and replace it with fresh litter", which anyone who owns a cat will surely agree is insanity.

sonicanatidae 3y ago
+1. That would be insanity and needless. Most people are exposed to more things like this, outside the home.
dweymouth 3y ago
Not to mention that eating undercooked meat is a bigger infection risk than living with a pet cat, especially an indoor-only cat.
BizarroLand 3y ago
Self-cleaning litter boxes all the way. House smells better, cat smells better, less misery for you. If you can afford it, it is a must have.

koheripbal 3y ago

It's crazy that this is so widespread, has brain disease implications, and yet there is no treatment for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide currently infected. What is likely worse is that they can only document the worst cases, and cannot measure the subtler impacts on seemingly healthy infected people. Maybe this is a major cause of ADD, or depression, or dyslexia, or autism, etc... we haven't done the research, so we aren't even bothering to test or treat a clearly extremely common infection. Its stupid.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
Uh, neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism are not something that happens later in life from an infection, it's something people are born with, and it's almost certainly down to genes; do some reading on MTHFR. Your comment is alarmist nonsense that isn't much better than "vaccines cause autism".

petra 3y ago

A more recent surveying diseases which T.gondii is implicated in: https://twitter.com/GC_Milne/status/1457831246344691718 https://twitter.com/GC_Milne/status/1457831246344691718 It also has a case where curing a female from t.gondii(right after she got it) cured her depression.

pvaldes 3y ago

They keep repeating that since years, but we are still waiting for the proofs