Name: Cat parasite which alters feline's minds widespread in Australia, study finds
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Cat parasite which alters feline's minds widespread in Australia, study finds

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{{data.meterPrompt.countRemaining}}{{data.meterPrompt.message}}Already subscribed? {{data.paywallPrompt.countRemaining}}{{data.paywallPrompt.title}}{{data.paywallPrompt.message}}Already subscribed? By A surprising new study suggests two-thirds of Australians have been exposed to a potentially mind-altering cat parasite.Toxoplasma gondii is famous for manipulating the brains of infected mice so they run towards cats, instead of away from them – raising questions about what it could be doing to human brains.New research from a team of Edith Cowan University scientists found 66 per cent of the 150 people they studied had antibodies to the parasite.“It blew us out of the water,” said Dr Aus Molan, the Edith Cowan University researcher who led the study.Associate Professor Chris Tonkin, among Australia’s leading toxo researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, called the number “extraordinarily high – much higher than I would have expected, that’s for sure”.Other scientists were more measured. "It's not published in a high-impact journal, and the sample size is very small," said University of Sydney toxo expert Professor Vanessa Barrs."If the study were repeated using a more rigorous methodology and the results were the same, yes they would be alarming."Toxoplasma gondii is a cat parasite that has the ability to infect other species, which has allowed it to become incredibly widespread. A published in February suggested about half of Australian domestic and wild cats have it, but many other animals suffer too – it has even turned up in Australian dugongs.While it can live in other animals, it can only reproduce in cats.That seems like a fatal flaw. But the parasite has developed the ability to rewire the minds of mice and rats, making them attracted to the smell of cat urine – essentially bringing the parasite back to the cat.When it infects a human, our immune systems force toxo to become dormant. The parasite hides as cysts in the brain and muscle.For the vast majority of people the cysts will seem to remain there harmlessly.“If you talk to clinicians, they say ‘you don’t need to worry about it’,” said Dr Tonkin. “But it’s really not known. There have been no studies done on its long-term health outcomes whatsoever.”Dr Molan and his team used blood taken from patients enrolled in the Busselton Health Study, a long-term health survey project running since 1966 in Busselton, a city 230 kilometres south of Perth.The researchers tested the blood of 150 volunteers, looking for antibodies to toxo, a sign the volunteer had been infected.The study, published in Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health earlier this year, found 66 per cent of people had antibodies. The rate increased in older people and in men.If it is so prevalent, that opens the door to questions about what it could be doing to us. Because it is so widespread, even a small effect on individuals would have significant effects at the population level.“It cannot just live in the brain and tissues and do nothing,” Dr Molan said.Ever since toxo’s mouse-mind control powers were discovered, scientists have been intrigued by the possibility the parasite could be manipulating our brains too.One study published in 2016 found people with the parasite were quicker to anger and more likely to take risks. Other studies have suggested infected people are more likely to be involved in car crashes.Other Australian research teams are looking for links between the parasite and mental illness, traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis.“The behavioural aspect of what toxo does to humans, the jury is still out,” Dr Tonkin said. “But I find it really hard to believe it has no effect.”The most important news, analysis and insights delivered to your inbox at the start and end of each day. Sign up to , to and&nbsp;.Liam Mannix is The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald's national science reporter.ExclusiveOpinionclose

{{data.meterPrompt.countRemaining}}{{data.meterPrompt.message}}Already subscribed? {{data.paywallPrompt.countRemaining}}{{data.paywallPrompt.title}}{{data.paywallPrompt.message}}Already subscribed? By A surprising new study suggests two-thirds of Australians have been exposed to a potentially mind-altering cat parasite.Toxoplasma gondii is famous for manipulating the brains of infected mice so they run towards cats, instead of away from them – raising questions about what it could be doing to human brains.New research from a team of Edith Cowan University scientists found 66 per cent of the...

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Liam Mannix

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Cat parasite which alters feline's minds widespread in Australia, study finds

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