Johns Hopkins University scientists trying to determine why people develop serious mental illness are focusing on an unlikely factor: a common parasite spread by cats.
The researchers say the microbes, called Toxoplasma gondii, invade the human brain and appear to upset its chemistry — creating, in some people, the psychotic behaviors recognized as schizophrenia.
If tackling the parasite can help solve the mystery of schizophrenia, "it's a pretty good opportunity … to relieve a pretty large burden of disease,"said Dr. Robert H. Yolken, director of developmental neurobiology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A Note on Crazy Cat Ladies
Toxoplasmosis may make you crazy:
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