[HN Gopher] Toxoplasma Gondii significantly alters wolf behavior
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Toxoplasma Gondii significantly alters wolf behavior
Author : anigbrowl
Score : 62 points
Date : 2024-05-29 20:34 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sciencealert.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencealert.com)
| Imnimo wrote:
| This is legitimately super interesting, but I can't help
| imagining a wave of "alpha male bootcamps" where you pay
| thousands of dollars to handle cat feces for a weekend in the
| hopes of being infected.
| chasil wrote:
| You can be infected by undercooked pork.
|
| If you own a cat, the litter box will be the primary vector.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Preventing...
| nativeit wrote:
| We're calling it "Litter Blox Tactical Training - Bury Your
| Weakness & Scat", memberships start at just $1999.99/year!
| infecto wrote:
| Was there not research in the past few years that took a look at
| motorcycle deaths and there was some correlation between the
| individuals that did not wear helmets and those that were also
| infected with toxoplasmosis?
| Terr_ wrote:
| It seems there are two different Toxoplasmosis/Accident
| narratives being studied out there, (1) that infection causes
| risky behavior and (2) that infection harms reaction-times.
|
| I suppose both could be true, but disentangling the effects
| means different kinds of work.
| stevenwoo wrote:
| I want to believe it because it makes a great science story and
| it makes good reading but who knows? This meta analysis only
| shows there is some correlation with behavior changes (only
| schizophrenia seems to consistently have some correlation) and
| discusses the difficulties in doing studies in pretty easy to
| understand way IMHO,
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8548174/ The very
| high 30 percent infection rate among the world population is
| kind of like like herpes, which at first thought would seem to
| confound things, though at a glance at a few, the studies were
| careful to separate infected versus non-infected.
| eitland wrote:
| I remember reading about it, probably in a farming related book
| from the nineties.
| shagie wrote:
| From a bit ago... "but why does it infect humans?"
| https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160209090622.h...
|
| Toxoplasmosis: Morbid attraction to leopards in parasitized
| chimpanzees
|
| > Researchers have shown that chimpanzees infected with
| toxoplasmosis are attracted by the urine of their natural
| predators, leopards, but not by urine from other large felines.
| The study suggests that parasite manipulation by Toxoplasma
| gondii is specific to each host. It fuels an ongoing debate on
| the origin of behavioral modifications observed in humans
| infected with toxoplasmosis: they probably go back to a time when
| our ancestors were still preyed upon by large felines.
| ineedaj0b wrote:
| Is there a cheap test for this? I don't wanna run out to my Dr.
| and seem like a complete nut but I do worry I got this. I am an
| absolute idiot
| lkbm wrote:
| Yes. I don't know exactly how cheap, but it's a big risk for
| pregnant women (not to have it, but to get infected while
| pregnant), so they have tests available, and it was affordable
| enough that my fiancee did it as part of her a prenatal
| screening.
| dvh wrote:
| Are you attracted to cougars in your area?
| retrac wrote:
| There are antibody tests to show if you've ever had it, and
| approximately how intense/active the infection is. Mild latent
| and recent past infection is hard to distinguish apart from an
| antibody test alone. Decreasing antibody concentration over
| time = fighting it off successfully, or past infection fading
| away (probably). Antibody tests like that aren't terribly
| expensive. (Well under $100 here in Canada if uninsured.)
|
| Direct testing for the parasite's DNA in the cerebral-spinal
| fluid (yeah, a spinal tap sorry) is sensitive, too. Attempting
| to detect it elsewhere (blood, etc.) works but isn't as
| reliable. This is more expensive but sometimes used when
| unsure. Otherwise, in combination with that, it's diagnosed
| symptomatically. It shows up on a brain scan if the lesions get
| big enough, not to be alarmist.
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| No need to test, just give me treatment.
| ncgl wrote:
| I love stuff like this, but I can't help but wonder much of this
| is simply editorialization on top of natural selection.
|
| Do infected wolves really take more risks? Or are we just
| connecting two dots with a thin bro science understanding of
| evolution? It seems impossible to know when you're looking for a
| broad narrative that fits how genes are spread
| thunkle wrote:
| Effects of Toxoplasma on Human Behavior
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526142/
|
| >> the men were more likely to disregard rules and were more
| expedient, suspicious, jealous, and dogmatic. The personality of
| infected women, by contrast, showed higher warmth and higher
| superego strength (factors A and G on Cattell's 16PF), suggesting
| that they were more warm hearted, outgoing, conscientious,
| persistent, and moralistic. Both men and women had significantly
| higher apprehension (factor O) compared with the uninfected
| controls.
| awaythrow999 wrote:
| I remember an article in the Economist between 2000-2010 claiming
| this was the cause of French drivers acting more reckless and
| aggressive in traffic compared to other countries. Not a
| subscriber anymore so sadly can't find the link in their archive.
| etiam wrote:
| Looks like enough people are coming sufficiently fresh to this
| topic to benefit:
|
| Professor Robert Sapolsky at Stanford had Toxoplasma and it's
| manipulation behaviors as a research interest for a period. He's
| a successful popular science writer and I think many people
| appreciate his informal lecture style as entertaining.
|
| I don't remember which are the best presentations he's given on
| _T. gondii_ but here 's one that appears to be high-ranking on
| search at least
|
| https://www.edge.org/conversation/robert_sapolsky-toxo
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