How a Mind-Control Parasite Controls People Through Their Cat

The idea that microscopic flora living inside our bodies can manipulate our behavior and personality is perhaps surprising. It's also exactly what a growing number of scientist is suggesting. The goal of this parasite, a protozoan known as Toxoplama gondii, is simple: It wants whatever host it's infected (typically a rodent) to get eaten by a cat. The Toxoplama also infects humans, roughly one-third of the world population is infected. We're not hunted by cats of course. So what does Toxoplama do when it wants us to get eaten? Well, the behavioral influence plays out in a number of strange ways. Toxoplasma infection in humans has been associated with everything from slowed reaction times to a fondness toward cat urine to more extreme behaviors such as depression and even schizophrenia. And here's the kicker: Two different research groups have independently shown that Toxo-infected individuals are three to four times as likely of being killed in car accidents due to reckless driving. It's been suggested that Toxoplama could even explain the eccentric behavior of so-called cat ladies. You know, cases of irrational hording of like 20+ cats, often in squalor, and a tendency toward reclusive, nonsocial behavior.

Toxoplasma gondii is also known as: Toxoplasmosis or T. gondii.