Are house cat feces making people crazy ?

Are parasites from cat droppings living in your brain and influencing the way you think and behave ?

This is the startling conclusion by Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr who believes that the Toxoplasma gondii parasite found in cat feces can live inside the brain and influence everything from our responses to frightening situations to our social behaviours. Flegr even believes that these parasites are responsible for some car accidents. "Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year," he says.

The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats’ litter boxes.

View: Full article | Source: The Atlantic

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