Our furry feline friends may be intensifying our fury
A new study says toxoplasmosis, a relatively harmless parasitic infection typically found in undercooked meat and cat feces and carried by about one-third of all humans, causes outbursts of anger and increased aggression.
The study was carried out by a team led by researchers from the University of Chicago with 358 adult subjects participating in the experiment. Its findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on March 23, 2016.
"Our work suggests that latent infection with the toxoplasma gondii parasite may change brain chemistry in a fashion that increases the risk of aggressive behavior," said senior study author Emil Coccaro, MD, and chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience of the university. "However, we do not know if this relationship is causal, and not everyone that tests positive for toxoplasmosis will have aggression issues," Coccaro added.
"Correlation is not causation, and this is definitely not a sign that people should get rid of their cats," said study co-author Royce Lee.
The research team found that the group diagnosed with IED was more than twice as likely to test positive for toxoplasmosis exposure (22 percent) as measured by a blood test, compared to the control group (nine percent).
According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) the Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is defined as recurrent, impulsive, problematic outbursts of verbal or physical aggression that are disproportionate to the situations that trigger them.
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