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My grandfather helped to teach me to drive.
He used to say, “Predicting what another driver might do, is like trying to predict the direction of a cat parade.
” It turns out that cats may have a lot more to do with our driving than my grandfather ever imagined!
If I told you that an alien bug had invaded the brains of half the population, hijacked their neurochemistry and altered
the way they acted behind the wheel, you probably wouldn’t believe me; yet something like this may actually
be happening right now!
Toxoplasma gondii is not an alien. In fact, it is so common that in some parts of the world as much as 60% of the
population is infected with this parasite.
Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted indirectly from cats to people and it has been shown to affect human personalities
in multiple ways.
For most that are infected, the symptoms are usually no worse than a mild dose of flu; but now there is a growing body of evidence that some of those infected people may
have their behavior permanently changed.
Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others, while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably
a bit boring.
Dr. Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague, has studied several aspects of the Toxoplasma question.
Dr. Flegr found that drivers and pedestrians who had been in accidents were almost three times more likely to be
infected than comparable individuals who had not been.
These included reduced reaction times and shorter attention spans, both of which might help to explain the
accident statistics.
Like Plasmodium, which cycles between mosquitoes and man, Toxoplasma cycles between its rodent and feline
hosts, living out different phases of its existence in each.
Eventually, if the parasites are lucky, their rodent host is eaten by a cat and the whole cycle starts again.
Dr. Flegr says “This isn’t about trying to freak cat owners out. Simply having a cat as a pet doesn’t mean you’re going
to get infected.”