The parasite Toxoplasma makes rats lust for cat pee and people drive motorbikes
tobiastenney.com
tobiastenney.com
That article really made me shudder: A small literature is coming out now reporting neuropsychological testing on men who are Toxo-infected, showing that they get a little bit impulsive. … And then the truly astonishing thing: two different groups independently have reported that people who are Toxo-infected have three to four times the likelihood of being killed in car accidents involving reckless speeding
I have a cat (and have always had one) and am in constant close contact (she's literally in my lap non-stop while I'm at home) and I sometimes (often?) forget to clear the cat litter for days (yuck, I know). And I have this thing where I always feel I'm simply not going fast enough while on the road (140kmph on mountain roads is normal for me during my 90km one-way daily commute). Am I just overreacting (traditional self-diagnosis) or is this really worth looking into?
If the article was about how taking a medicine for high blood pressure increased the risk of death by car accident by 5x, or if flying in a plane the past week increased the risk of death by car accident 5x, or anything more obscure and unusual, you'd be all over it.
That's unsound logic, no matter how mundane or extraordinary the housecat is, because habitual fast driving happens for any number of reasons of which toxoplasma gondii is possibly one.
On the plus side, you've got your 90km commute below 1.5s, which is quite an achievement.
However, with the prevalence of the parasite, I suspect spending a lot of time near cats is reasonable cause for suspicion, esp if they are mousers/ratters. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no11/03-0098.htm
^ allegedly 10-20% of Americans may have toxo, and I've heard some 20-30% households have cats.
Obviously not EVERYBODY has it, but take a 1 in 5 chance and then introduce a risk factor? I wouldn't just dismiss it out of hand.
Dr Sapolsky tells some interesting stories but the skeptic in me wonders how someone can take such a seemingly small independent variable like the presence of toxo in humans and suggest it affects certain specific behaviors like driving aggressively. To be fair, he stops short of establishing any sort of causation, but his implications certainly allow him to weave a fascinating story. Is it safe to assume that telling a good story helps one garner support for funding research?
Perhaps the test was to make sure you already have it, so you would better fit in with us raw-meat-eating Belgians :)
ex-Biker, sometime-speeder and cat-attendant.