If a parasite alters your behaviors, are you still yourself? Yes this is a toxoplasmosis thread.

Absolutely not. You are your brain, and if your brain gets altered (after you touched a cat and got toxoplasmosis by it) you are no longer your original self, just a husk engaging in various forms of reckless behavior because the parasite has evolved in a symbiotic relationship with felines in order to keep them on top of the food chain.

You are essentially a type of zombie. It's also not a coincidence that most people turn into "cat lovers" only after prolonged exposure to them and virtually no human loves these beasts by default. It's just another symptom that your free will has been overridden.

Hey! I love cats to death and I still hate taking risks! I drive like a grandma and seeing people doing parkour or cave diving makes me shudder/incredibly uncomfortable.

You were never fully yourself to begin with since you do not have 100% full control over your thoughts and behavior at all times.

Toxoplasmosis doesn't really do that to most people. There likely is other influences than just that. It doesnt effect behavior outside of slightly increasing risk of certain mental illnesses developing. However there also is the possibility people with mental illnesses are more likely to own pets as a comfort.


https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11015818/

@traed

traed: toxoplasmosis doesn't really do much
the research he posts: It most likely gives schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder to adults and probably to kids as well, but not as much evidence for the latter. Need more evidence. LOL

Why do I feel like you're accusing me of all these things!! None of this apply to myself, this is defamation!

Genetics can change. It's called epigenetic expression. I mean aside from gene editing. Also the source of toxoplasma gandi isn't cats, they just are one of the hosts among various hosts. Like i told you before another time they basically figured out how to get rid of the parasite now. Iirc it's an antiviral used to treat the flu, it does something to their guts and kills them. I cant find the source again right now.

@Freshell Of course, you've been a project of mine since Day 1. That behavioral pattern change was meant to be subtle, gradual, and highly subjective though, compared to a more sudden and radical one caused by the likes of mind-altering parasites like T. Solium or Toxoplasma gondii, and for which we have mounds of evidence of similar symptoms appearing among the majority of hosts... Symptoms that are linked to the physical parasite itself rather than the brainwashing we are doing here (not that any of it takes place of course).



You may think it's circle-jerking, Merve2Love, but I barely got them to finally do a research on toxoplasmosis and share it with the world. We should take that as a victory.

So you don't shave your wrists regularly?

Too much information, but okay.



Yeah, but genetics I can't change unlike the public perception on cats!

Well no. Humans are 90% related to cats by shared DNA and humans can be exposed by more than via a cat which themselves only can get it if they are an outdoor cat, it could be mice feces in crop soil or occasionally accidentally winding up in ground meat for example.


Yes there is an issue with publication bias. I even occasionally see papers with conclusions that the data doesn't even remotely support.

Well, no, since felines are the only definitive host where the parasite can reproduce. It doesn't matter how much of the genes were inherited from a common ancestor if the parasite cannot reproduce in mice, men, or any other known mammal. It doesn't matter how you get it. What matters is that it always starts from a cat's intestines.

@149597871
What I mean is considering how common it is there possibly is a variation that can reproduce in humans or some other animal even if there isnt any known.

This is what the CDC says aside from cat related it has this


https://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/causes/index.html

It isnt just domestic cats but wild cats. You're suggesting an impossible task.

Lol, you have troubles understanding what the CDC says. The reason why you can get it from milk, meat, water, contaminated surfaces, etc. isn't because the parasite reproduces there (as I said, the cat is the only definitive host). It starts from a cat, then it gets in the mouth of some pig, and then you get it by eating the pig (intermediate host).

Obviously, while it has a few variations that all depend on cats, it can't magically evolve to reproduce in let's say giraffes just because we are all mammals with a common ancestors the same way viruses like Sars-CoV-2 did. This parasite has existed for millions of years and has already reached its pinnacle of efficiency long ago as it has spread to literally every part of the populated world. What you are talking about is a <0.01% probability.



I'm suggesting an ambitious task!

@149597871
No i didnt misunderstand. I was explaining that it can come from indirect exposure and the cat isnt always the last host is what I was saying.

That isnt how evolution works. Evolution is random and without purpose.

What you suggest would throw off the entire ecosystem killing every cheetah,lion, tiger, leopard, bob cat, etc ...it would be more logical to address what even allows the parasite to survive and finding out exactly what conditions it needs that are involved in it reproducing to see if it is something that can be altered.

@traed

Well, the cat is the only definitive host for the virus where it can sexually reproduce. I don't know what you are talking about.

And no, while mutations are random, evolution isn't without purpose as any inferior strains will die out quickly. Besides, the process isn't as fast as with viruses. What you are basically saying is, after millions of years, the parasite has evolved in that way, but if we take care of cats, it will miraculously evolve in a completely different way overnight. That's like saying "if we castrate all stray dogs, they'll simply learn to reproduce asexually by splitting in two, so why bother."

The population of lions is way too small and localized to matter, and they can even be given individual treatment if we get to that point. Right now it's mostly domestic and stray cats that spread it. If you take those cats out of the areas you raise cattle or grow vegetables, cases will drop significantly.

@149597871
I mean if the reason is known why cats then that condition could possibly be altered without harming the cats. Like say maybe it is ph level for example.

There is no such thing as inferior, that's a manmade concept. What is better or worse depends on conditions not anything in itself. You're obsessing over a parasite that pales in comparison to the bubonic plague that still exists these days which cats fend off by keeping the rodent population down.

@traed

It's the acids and the overall environment in their guts. I mean, if you can somehow radically change their digestive system without harming them, then I'm all for it.

Inferior as in "not capable of surviving." We have treatments and preventions methods for the Bubonic plague, so it's mostly irrelevant. I've already shared my math about toxoplasmosis increasing the chance of traffic incidents, which is one of the main causes of death. If 1/3 of the population is estimated to be infected, with the disease allegedly increasing the risk by 2-3 times, it would mean that like over half of the traffic incident fatalities can be attributed to it. That's hundreds of thousands of people every year, and that is just one of the many risks the parasite can increase. It also increases your chance for suicide, reckless behavior, etc., and probably a bunch of other causes of death we don't even know for. It doesn't take a genius to understand that having parasite cysts in your brain is not ideal.