Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User
Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:29 PM CDT
Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?
___UPF_START_OF_TABLE___Document NameUS NEWS SCI-CATPARASITE 1 CCDocument DateAug/3/2006PhotographerJose Carlos FajardoFormat2200 x 1651 Color JPEGCategoryA SCIKeywordskrtcampus campus, krthealthmed,    (KRT Photos)

A parasite that reproduces in cats, previously linked to schizophrenia in infected humans, has now, bizarrely, been implicated in mass personality changes in geographic areas where incidence of infection is high. A U.S. Geological Survey study of 39 countries shows that high infection rates of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite correlate to cultural traits like neuroticism.

Another study from a parasitologist in Prague found that infected human mothers were more than twice as likely to give birth to a boy than a girl, skewing the odds from 104:100 to a startling 260:100. The researcher speculates that the parasite suppresses mothers' immune systems, which are naturally more likely to attack male fetuses (More parasites stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X