EDIT:This was news to me. I didn't see the date until I posted it.

Quote:

Toxoplasma gondii and Schizophrenia Posted 12/03/2003 E. Fuller Torrey, Robert H. Yolken Abstract and Introduction Abstract Recent epidemiologic studies indicate that infectious agents may contribute to some cases of schizophrenia. In animals, infection with Toxoplasma gondii can alter behavior and neurotransmitter function. In humans, acute infection with T. gondii can produce psychotic symptoms similar to those displayed by persons with schizophrenia. Since 1953, a total of 19 studies of T. gondii antibodies in persons with schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders and in controls have been reported; 18 reported a higher percentage of antibodies in the affected persons; in 11 studies the difference was statistically significant. Two other studies found that exposure to cats in childhood was a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia. Some medications used to treat schizophrenia inhibit the replication of T. gondii in cell culture. Establishing the role of T. gondii in the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia might lead to new medications for its prevention and treatment. Introduction Schizophrenia is a pervasive neuropsychiatric disease of uncertain cause that affects approximately 1% of the adult population in the United States and Europe. An increased occurrence of schizophrenia in family members of affected persons suggests that genetic factors play a role in its etiology, and some candidate predisposing genes have been identified. Environmental factors are also important. Epidemiologic studies, for example, have established that winter-spring birth, urban birth, and perinatal and postnatal infection are all risk factors for the disease developing in later life. These studies have rekindled an interest in the role of infectious agents in schizophrenia, a concept first proposed in 1896.[1] This review focuses on evidence specifically linking infection with Toxoplasma gondii to the etiology of some cases of schizophrenia. T. gondii is an intracellular parasite in the phylum Apicomplexa. Its life cycle can be completed only in cats and other felids, which are the definitive hosts. However, T. gondii also infects a wide variety of intermediate hosts, including humans. In many mammals, T. gondii is known to be an important cause of abortions and stillbirths and to selectively infect muscle and brain tissue. A variety of neurologic symptoms, including incoordination, tremors, head-shaking, and seizures, have been described in sheep, pigs, cattle, rabbits, and monkeys infected with T. gondii.[2] Humans may become infected by contact with cat feces or by eating undercooked meat. The importance of these modes of transmission may vary in different populations.[3] Individual response to Toxoplasma infection is determined by immune status, timing of infection, and the genetic composition of the host and the organism.[4] Toxoplasma organisms have also been shown to impair learning and memory in mice[5] and to produce behavioral changes in both mice and rats. Of special interest are studies showing that Toxoplasma-infected rats become less neophobic, leading to the diminution of their natural aversion to the odor of cats.[6] These behavioral changes increase the chances that the rat will be eaten by a cat, thus enabling Toxoplasma to complete its life cycle, an example of evolutionarily driven manipulation of host behavior by the parasite. In humans, Toxoplasma is an important cause of abortions and stillbirths after primary infection in pregnant women. The organism can also cross the placenta and infect the fetus. The symptoms of congenital toxoplasmosis include abnormal changes in head size (hydrocephaly or microcephaly), intracranial calcifications, deafness, seizures, cerebral palsy, damage to the retina, and mental retardation. Some sequelae of congenital toxoplasmosis are not apparent at birth and may not become apparent until the second or third decade of life. Hydrocephalus,[7] increased ventricular size,[8] and cognitive impairment[9] have also been noted in some persons with schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. Some cases of acute toxoplasmosis in adults are associated with psychiatric symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. A review of 114 cases of acquired toxoplasmosis noted that "psychiatric disturbances were very frequent" in 24 of the case-patients.[10] Case reports describe a 22-year-old woman who exhibited paranoid and bizarre delusions ("she said she had no veins in her arms and legs"), disorganized speech, and flattened affect; a 32-year-old woman who had auditory and visual hallucinations; and a 34-year-old woman who experienced auditory hallucinations and a thought disorder.[11] Schizophrenia was first diagnosed in all three patients, but later neurologic symptoms developed, which led to the correct diagnosis of Toxoplasma encephalitis. Psychiatric manifestations of T. gondii are also prominent in immunocompromised persons with AIDS in whom latent infections have become reactivated. Reviews of such AIDS cases with toxoplasmosis have indicated that altered mental status may occur in as many as 60% of patients and that the symptoms may include delusions, auditory hallucinations, and thought disorders.[12] Additional studies have documented that persons with serologic evidence of Toxoplasma infection have evidence of psychiatric changes in the absence of a history of clinically apparent Toxoplasma infection. Studies in which personality questionnaires have been administered to healthy adults have indicated that serum antibodies to T. gondii are associated with alterations in behavior and psychomotor skills.[13] Seropositivity to Toxoplasma has also been associated with "lack of energy or tiredness" in schoolchildren.[14] In view of these findings, we decided to carry out serologic and other studies and to survey the literature for possible additional links between Toxoplasma infection and schizophrenia.

When your chances of developing schizophrenia are probably less than 1% anyway, even a 100% increase in your chances of developing the disorder only raise the chances to 2%. Miniscule. I'll take my chances with having cats.
The medical community seems to like using the percent increase or decrease rather than the actual percent chance because it seems more dramatic.

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auditory and visual hallucinations?

So, where can I get some toxoplasma gondii in pill form?

Acid, shrooms and weed not doing it for you anymore?

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Zoe wrote:

When your chances of developing schizophrenia are probably less than 1% anyway, even a 100% increase in your chances of developing the disorder only raise the chances to 2%. Miniscule. I'll take my chances with having cats. The medical community seems to like using the percent increase or decrease rather than the actual percent chance because it seems more dramatic.

that is something only a crazy person would say...



I guess it is already too late for zoe

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It wasn't the toxo. I think it was the meds they had my mom on when she was preggers.
That or the bump on the head.
Or maybe the fact that I was soaked in liquor for most of college.

I don't know.


Either way, yeah.
Don't mind me.

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*bumps head on heaviness of this thread*

wtf? where am I? *looks confused and afraid*

It's okay...we're just talking about cat parasites that can cause mental illness.
Smoke some more weed, Jaz...it'll be fine.

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ok

anyway.... on topic.... I have not known ANYONE that went nuts after having cats.... just people that went nuts and THEN got 10 or more cats....

I got 2 cats.... and I was crazy before I had em, lol

I member that their poo is dangerous, uhh man my head used to hurt after handling that poo and making poo objects though.

not-D, i think your mystical journey could start here:

^charming first post.

Quote:

..Toxoplasma-infected rats become less neophobic, leading to the diminution of their natural aversion to the odor of cats... an example of evolutionarily driven manipulation of host behavior by the parasite.

..awsome ....
that's hard-core.

AgentStepford wrote:

^charming first post. Quote: ..Toxoplasma-infected rats become less neophobic, leading to the diminution of their natural aversion to the odor of cats... an example of evolutionarily driven manipulation of host behavior by the parasite. ..awsome .... that's hard-core.

That explains why I don't find cats as odorously offensive as I might once have...

Also those look like tootsie rolls or chocolate, poo isn't so buttery and delicious looking.

rat253 wrote:

Also those look like tootsie rolls or chocolate, poo isn't so buttery and delicious looking.

*poo investigation*
And they haven't been covered and look like they're fresh out of the hopper.

Still - gross.

misfit wrote:

rat253 wrote: Also those look like tootsie rolls or chocolate, poo isn't so buttery and delicious looking. *poo investigation* And they haven't been covered and look like they're fresh out of the hopper. Still - gross.

The kidscuisine at the bottom of the picture, the smallness of the 'box' and the off color of the 'litter' all point to it being some food dressed up as poo but not everyone would look so closely at apparent poo.