Cats can Cause Schizophrenia

If you keep the cat, should not present too often play with your cat. Scientists claim the cat-borne parasite can cause schizophrenia on the owner.

Research at Leeds University showed that the parasite affects the production of dopamine, a chemical that carries messages to the brain to control movement, cognition and behavior, thus causing schizophrenia and other bipolar disorders.

The parasite infects the brain by forming a cyst within the cell and produces an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase, which is required for dopamine.

Schizophrenia is a disorder that occurs in brain function. Sufferers are always having hallucinations or delusions, disorganized behavior, catatonic behavior and social withdrawal.

The parasite is transmitted through cat feces, commonly known as Toxoplasma gondii and is a microbe that causes toxoplasmosis. This is the reason why pregnant women are asked to avoid contact with cat feces.

Since 1920, doctors have claimed that women infected with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, resulting in severe brain damage in babies, and even cause death.

In adults, the disease is similar to flu symptoms, in which these parasites suppress the immune system to eventually penderitan became seriously ill with complications such as encephalitis (brain inflammation).

However, despite that the parasite has entered the body of man, still have to go back into the cat's body for sexual reproduction.

Study using mice found that mice infected with more active play in the steering wheel than those who do not. Infected mice also were less wary of predators. Thus, the rat is more easily captured by the cat and the parasites can continue its life cycle