While this might be a subject you’d think would tickle the funny-bone of cat lovers worldwide, this is actually a topic which is quite serious and i’m sure is unknown to most of you. Sure, we all know that cats are the supreme beings on Earth and humans are nothing but their slaves but did you know that cats carry a parasite which alters your brain and can effect your behaviour?

The parasite was first discovered in rats. Rats have a natural genetic fear of the smell of cat pee as they probably know that they’ll end up as dinner if they hang around where a cat has been. The parasite (called toxoplasma gondii) causes rats to become attracted to cat pee, thus increasing their vulnerability as prey.

While scientists knew this (and also they knew that the parasite could be hosted in as much as HALF of the worlds population) a recent study has discovered that the parasite attacks only this fear of cat urine with almost surgical precision, leaving other fears totally alone. This opens the door to further studies on how fear is generated in the first place.

It is said that in the human brain the disease is not dangerous but some scientists believe that it could be linked to some mental disorders such as schizophrenia and neuroticism.

Some scientists even believe that the parasite has affected cultural traits in human population. In areas where almost everyone has the parasite they say that it could be the reason why some cultures are more neurotic (on an average personality scale) than others. This theory though is really hard to analyze and I guess more understanding in the human brain is needed.

WTF?! A brain parasite that HALF the world has?? This automatically makes me think of the ancient Egyptian times where cats were worshipped as Gods. I guess the parasite was in full-force back then… we must have grown immune!

Links of interest:

• Toxoplasmosis on Wiki
• Bizarre Human Brain Parasite Precisely Alters Fear
• Cat parasite may affect cultural traits in human populations