Robert Sapolsky discusses Toxoplasma's effects on mammalian behavior

Also cool how it disseminates through the brain:

"Researchers in Sweden report that the parasite fans out through the body by manipulating mobile cells that are part of the immune system."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/science/20toxo.html, see also http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2006/06/20/toxoplasma...

This is interesting because it's very hard to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. One could imagine an engineered toxoplasma that delivers drugs to the brain via this route.

Toxoplasma infection is so pervasive and influential that it has been fingered as a possible contributer to differences between cultures: http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/10/toxoplasma_...

What freaks me out about this parasite is that it causes behavior changes in humans even in the asymptomatic cyst stage and is so widely prevalent. Ugh.