
The parasite Toxoplasma makes rats lust for cat pee and people drive motorbikes - Zarkonnen
http://tobiastenney.com/2010/06/toxoplasma/
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ComputerGuru
The TFA asks "how do you test for Toxo" - the answer:
[http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-
poisoning/toxoplasmos...](http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-
poisoning/toxoplasmosis-test?page=2)

That article really made me shudder: _A small literature is coming out now
reporting neuropsychological testing on men who are Toxo-infected, showing
that they get a little bit impulsive. … And then the truly astonishing thing:
two different groups independently have reported that people who are Toxo-
infected have three to four times the likelihood of being killed in car
accidents involving reckless speeding_

I have a cat (and have always had one) and am in constant close contact (she's
literally in my lap non-stop while I'm at home) and I sometimes (often?)
forget to clear the cat litter for days (yuck, I know). And I have this thing
where I always feel I'm _simply not going fast enough_ while on the road
(140kmph on mountain roads is normal for me during my 90km one-way daily
commute). Am I just overreacting (traditional self-diagnosis) or is this
really worth looking into?

~~~
tptacek
The likelihood that you're accurately judging the origins of your driving
behavior from your keyboard while a cat is on your lap after reading an
article like this is 0.0%. I have a dog in the room with me. Let me help you
out. You are not a toxo zombie, 'ComputerGuru.

~~~
mkramlich
how do we know that the Toxo parasite isn't making you say that? ;)

~~~
tptacek
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-ZOITE.

~~~
blasdel
I suggest we all go to the Brain Slug planet -- just walk around, not wearing
a helmet.

~~~
ahoyhere
Funny, but you guys are making a classic logical mistake: mocking a
potentially serious problem because it seems to have a completely mundane and
boring source (housecats).

If the article was about how taking a medicine for high blood pressure
increased the risk of death by car accident by 5x, or if flying in a plane the
past week increased the risk of death by car accident 5x, or anything more
obscure and unusual, you'd be all over it.

~~~
Goladus
I think the mocking is not the mundane and boring source, rather the logic of
"I drive fast, and I have a cat so it must be toxo."

That's unsound logic, no matter how mundane or extraordinary the housecat is,
because habitual fast driving happens for any number of reasons of which
toxoplasma gondii is possibly one.

~~~
tptacek
It's also unsound logic that is clearly a result of watching and reading an
especially vivid piece on the fascinating mechanations of toxo. If I read a
piece on the symptoms of spleen cancer, I'm going to think I have that ailment
too; it's just how my brain works.

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rjett
How many people are tested annually for toxo and in which situations would
someone be tested for toxo?

Dr Sapolsky tells some interesting stories but the skeptic in me wonders how
someone can take such a seemingly small independent variable like the presence
of toxo in humans and suggest it affects certain specific behaviors like
driving aggressively. To be fair, he stops short of establishing any sort of
causation, but his implications certainly allow him to weave a fascinating
story. Is it safe to assume that telling a good story helps one garner support
for funding research?

~~~
liedra
I actually had to have a test for it as part of my working visa application to
Belgium. I thought it was really weird, and so did my doctor!

~~~
Luc
Sounds like someone along the line made a mistake - toxoplasmosis isn't
infectious between humans (except mother to baby) and shouldn't be included in
these test. Typically syphilis and tuberculosis are tested for, plus any
additional infectious diseases depending on where you are from.

Perhaps the test was to make sure you already have it, so you would better fit
in with us raw-meat-eating Belgians :)

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eli
Excellent Radio Lab episode on this and other parasites:
<http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/09/25>

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sdh
hmm, if i were a MotoGP rider I would so be getting a cat right now.

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raquo
Obligatory: <http://xkcd.com/719/>

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watmough
You got me.

ex-Biker, sometime-speeder and cat-attendant.

