It's time for my regular eye check-up which comes around more regularly now because I have diabetes. It's a nuisance but, unfortunately, part of life at my age. I remember many years ago, the optometrist pointed out to me that I had a mark on the retina which he suggested was caused by a toxoplasmosis infection which I caught from one of our cats. It seems that the toxoplasmosis parasite sexually reproduces only in cats but can infect other warm-blooded mammals. No doubt, the problem was that one of my jobs was to clean the litter tray. Who would have thought that there would be consequences.
Probably about a quarter of all Australians carry this infection with no ill effects. However, now I hear that toxoplasmosis is a much more sinister creature than first thought. On QI last night, there was a reference to research which showed that toxoplasmosis in mice caused the mice to lose their fear of cats by reducing their ability to react to the smell. Ergo, they were more likely to be caught by cats and eaten, which gave the toxaplosmis access to their preferred host.
The real worry is that the research suggests that taxoplasmosis might have a similar effect on humans. Is it possible that we might find our responses to the fear instinct affected so that we could have a car accident, for example, which increases the possibility that we might be eaten by a cat? Just one more thing to worry about!
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