When I was a child....

I wish, I really, REALLY wish that someone had noticed me as a kid, and gotten me the education (that I don't have but) wish I had now!


I would have been spectacular with the right education, if I was asking questions like this in second and third grade!

...I used to ask hard questions. No one knew what to do with me. I caught chicken pox, I itched and wanted to scratch and was told that it would scar if I did. So I asked the next logical question: "If I'm NOT supposed to scratch, and it MAKES me itch, so I'm LIKELY to scratch, it must have a reason and it isn't good. Can I catch OTHER things that can make me hurt myself?"

"Oh, NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo", they assured me.

They Lied.

[Excerpt]

http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/33/3/727

Finally, Jaroslav Flegr summarizes his pioneering research demonstrating the effects of T. gondii on the personality and behavior of university students and military recruits.12 Such studies need to be replicated but are of great interest. Humans are reluctant to acknowledge the possibility that our behavior may be manipulated by infectious organisms; anyone who doubts that it is possible will no longer doubt, if they read Carl Zimmer's fascinating Parasite Rex13




http://www.physorg.com/news131778312.html

[excerpt]
There are many examples of parasites that induce spectacular changes in the behaviour of their host. Flukes, for example, are thought to induce ants, their intermediate host, to move up onto blades of grass during the night and early morning. There, they firmly attach themselves to the substrate with their mandibles, and are thus consumed by grazing sheep, the fluke's final host. In contrast, uninfected ants return to their nests during the night and the cooler parts of the day. As another example, terrestrial insects parasitized by hairworms commit suicide by jumping into water, where the adult worms reproduce.



[Excerpt]
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=117239

The increased seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in victims of traffic accidents suggested that the subjects with latent toxoplasmosis had significantly higher risk of traffic accidents than non-infected subjects. Relative risk of traffic accidents was highest in subjects with supposedly relatively recent or massive T. gondii infection and decreased with the decrease of anti-toxoplasma immunity, i.e. with duration of Toxoplasma infection.



http://www.priory.com/pharmol/toxoplasmosis.htm

Toxoplasmosis and psychiatric disorders

Discussion

We know humans like mice are intermediate hosts in life cycle.
Parasite species are known to influence the behavior of their host to
increase their probability to move to new host and complete their life cycle.
Behavior alteration is meant to increase intermediate host susceptibility
to predation and therefore the probability of their transmission to a definitive
host. (23). Toxoplasma achieves its objective probably by increasing synthesis of dopamine (18), or by secreting‘LSD’ like substance (linked to serotonin)
(22). And interestingly they are the same neurotransmitters, which
are affected, in most of psychiatric conditions (15).
Infected rodents have been observed to show adverse behavior, which make them easy prey for cats. Some of the behavior changes observed during trials have included impaired motor performance and higher activity level (24), deficits in learning capacity and memory (25), longer reaction time (26), and reduced specific predator avoidance (27).

What we are suggesting here is that when humans enter the life cycle of toxoplasma gondii and get infected. It is possible that neurotransmitter induced behavioral changes results in psychiatric conditions. This hypothesis is supported by many studies, which prove the personality-altering role of toxoplasma gondii in humans.

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Cloud/golden lining, you know the rest!

http://www.biolynk.com/content/view/46/92/

Toxoplasmosis
*ATTENTION Toxoplasmosis Patients* If you have recently been diagnosed with Toxoplasmosis (Toxo) you may have an opportunity to receive $600 or more per week for participating in our Plasma Donation Program. Timing is critical. Please call us immediately.

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And it goes on and on!

Parasite-induced change in host behavior of a freshwater snail ...

Behavioral Modifications in Insects Induced by Parasites and Pathogens

Modulating the modulators: parasites, neuromodulators and host ...
Modulating the modulators: parasites, neuromodulators and host behavioral change

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And THIS is a wondeful paper!

http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/bolker/eep/notes/week5.html
Parasite manipulation of hosts

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The search I made was short, very incomplete, and concetrated on Toxo and parasites. The results lead me to wonder if there is a whole host (pun NOT intended) of compulsive behavioral changes that benefit the micro-organism to the detriment of the host.

I need to go to bed. I should stop drinking caffiene, maybe I won't stay up reading all night, and napping periodically, and I'll get a whole night's sleep.

For a changerolleyes!

 

Wicked thread!

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but isn't that more or less the DEFINITION of a parasite?

 

The operative word was *compulsive*. We have mutually beneficial relationships, we have benign parasitic, we have harmful parasitic, but now it looks like the parasites make us... I hate to sound inarticulate... "do things" for them. They aren't content with merely sucking our blood anymore. rolleyes

Run up a blade of grass and get eaten by a sheep or cow.... Doesn't do the ant much good, and it's definitely not benign.

Run across the floor in broad daylight, inspite of the cat on the table... Doesn't do the rat much good.

Grow an extra leg, or 2 or 3 or take a leg away, and try to hop away, but get eaten anyway because you're hindered by your body mod... >poof<

I was surprised that I was running into more actual flukes, amoebas, and protazoa than virii and bacteria.