I say yes because I know what a tricky little predator this is. It makes cats behave stupidly and skip-hop under the wheels of motor cars; it makes rats and mice curl up in front of cats and ask to be killed and eaten (that’s how the parasite goes to its next step in reproduction).
Now orthodox doctors are asking the same question…. And coming up with the same answer.
The parasite in question is Toxoplasmosis (toxo for short) and is caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
Toxo could well cause behavior disturbance in humans and be a menacing cause of unforeseen suicide.
Humans can become chronically infected by eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables or by handling cat litter, as the parasite is known to multiply in the gut of infected cats. Even just messing around with your infected cat puts you in danger. NEVER let kids cuddle and slurp with cats or dogs.
Some studies have linked the parasite to a higher chance of developing schizophrenia, and researchers believe because the T. gondii parasite lives in the brain, it could have an effect on emotions and behavior. It could trigger suicidal thoughts. It does in cats and rats!!
For the new report, Dr. Teodor Postolache from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and his colleagues used Danish medical registries to track 45,788 women who were originally included in a study that screened newborn babies for toxoplasmosis.
Just over one-quarter of the babies were positive for T. gondii antibodies, which would have come from the mother’s blood, meaning their mothers likely had a chronic, underlying toxoplasmosis infection.
What was really startling is that, over the next decade or more, the infected women were about 50 percent more likely to cut, burn or otherwise hurt themselves and 80 percent more likely to attempt suicide.
In total, 488 women hurt themselves for the first time during the study – or eight out of every 10,000 annually – and 78 tried to kill themselves.
That toxo could cause this is a pretty sobering thought.
It means parasites are a danger from all sides. Yet people know so little about how they interact with us humans.
Parasites are deadly and have killed more people in history than wars combined. They are NOT confined to 3rd world countries. Scores of millions of Americans are infected. They penetrate every corner of the developed world.
You need to learn about parasites and how to stop them killing you (that’s what they do).
Read about my super-handbook on parasites:
Go there now.
[REFERENCE: Archives of General Psychiatry, online July 2, 2012]