My dog tipped me off to this. She's lobbying to get rid of the cat.
> > A Parasite Carried By Cats Could Increase Suicide Risk >> by Jon Hamilton >> >> 05:28 pm >> >> >> >> Hans Martens/iStockphoto.com >> What's the link between cats and madness? >> >> There's fresh evidence that cats can be a threat to your mental health. >> >> To be fair, it's not kitties themselves that are the problem, but a parasite >> they carry called Toxoplasma gondii. >> >> A study of more than 45,000 Danish women found that those infected with this >> feline parasite were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than women who >> weren't infected. >> >> That's not a huge increase, but it's probably too big to have been caused by >> chance, says Teodor Postolache, a University of Maryland psychiatrist and >> senior author of the paper, which was published in the Archives of General >> Psychiatry. >> >> >> Still, the absolute risk of suicide remains very small. Fewer than 1,000 of >> the women attempted any sort of self-directed violence during the 30-year >> study span. And just seven committed suicide. >> >> But this isn't the first time T. gondii infection, or toxoplasmosis, has >> been associated with behavioral changes in people, Postolache says. Previous >> studies have shown links to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and even the >> chance that a person will get in an automobile accident. >> >> Related NPR Stories >> >> Invasion Of The Mind-Controlling Zombie Parasites Oct. 30, 2011 >> Eat Your Worms: The Upside Of Parasites Dec. 2, 2010 >> Research Links Parasite In Cats To Mental Illnesses June 19, 2010 >> The T. gondii parasite lives in the intestines of cats. Cat owners can >> become infected when they change a litter box, Postolache says. But he says >> people are more likely to be infected when they eat vegetables or meat that >> are raw or undercooked. >> >> "People should not give their cats away" because of this study, Postolache >> says. >> >> Scientists still aren't sure how the parasite affects a person's brain, he >> says. But in rodents, it causes cysts to form in areas of the brain involved >> in behavior. >> >> A study of rats also found that infection caused them to lose their fear of >> cats and become attracted to the odor of cat urine. That behavioral change >> would increase the chance that a rat would be eaten by a cat — allowing the >> parasite to get into the cat's intestine, which is the only place it can >> reproduce sexually. >> >> The parasite doesn't benefit much from infecting a human, since cats don't >> eat people very often. So humans are probably just "collateral damage" from >> the parasites' effort to infect smaller animals, says Robert Yolken, an >> infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. >> >> Yolken says he owns two cats and that "the benefits outweigh the risks." >> >> >> >> >> >> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18889 or send a blank email to leave-18889-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
