toxoplasma gondii
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Woman’s ‘Highly Unusual’ Pneumonia Caused by Parasite-Tainted Deer Meat
A Florida woman’s serious pneumonia that landed her in the hospital turned out to have a very strange culprit: deer meat tainted by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Though it took some time for the woman’s doctors to discover the true cause of her worsening illness, they were able to treat her in time once they…
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8 Species Driven Toward Extinction by Cats
It has been thousands of years since the first cats were domesticated, but we still don’t seem to have much control over them. Many people let their cats come and go as they please, perhaps forgetting — or not caring — that domestic cats kill billions of birds and mammals each year. Over half of…
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Cat Parasite Makes Mice Less Fearful, But Not Just Of Cats, Study Finds
The relationship between a notorious parasite spread by cats and the mice it infects might be more complex than we thought, according to new research out this week. It suggests that mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii aren’t just less afraid of cats—they’re more mellowed out in general.
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‘Cat Parasite’ Could Be To Blame For People Suffering From Rage Disorder
A new study has shown that people with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), associated with bursts of overblown aggression, are twice as likely as healthy people to have Toxoplasma gondii. This parasite, famously carried by cats, has been shown to mess with the neurochemistry of mice. Could it be doing the same to us?