December 2, 2009
For some, the first post after a long gap should humbly explain, recall happenings and generally fill in the lost time. But, I'm just going to skip that part. While there are many charms to writing frequently, each post starts a timer to the next. While I like posting, the next post is a task. And, as time passes, the tasks pile into an unwieldy burden. So, rather than dwell on the posts I haven't written for the last year and a half in Boise, I'm going to just write about last Saturday evening.
When friends get together a few days after Thanksgiving to enjoy a pot-luck dinner, we call it Friendsgiving. It happened again this year. Towards the end of the evening, some friends, Leah and I sat comfortably behind our bellies and talked. The chaotic path of group conversation led me to recall a book I read in Pittsburgh a few years ago.
I shared a section of the book with the group about a particular parasite, which is widespread, but generally unknown. The parasite's life cycle is in house cats, but a large portion of house cat owners worldwide have it. Few know about it because, until recently, the parasite was considered to have little effect on humans. But, it turns out to have a subtle and strange impact on our lives. People with the parasite shop more.
As I talked, I realised that I didn't remember the author's name, or the title. I didn't remember the name of the parasite, where or when the study was done. In fact, I didn't remember enough to sound reasonable. I'd put a kink into thread of polite conversation. Several friends looked at me blankly. Leah glanced at my drink to see if I'd had to much. I briefly started to repeat myself and then trailed off. Pause. The conversation launched in a new direction.
Not surprisingly, I've been wanting to remember the book title since Saturday. Today, after an arduous Google search, I found it:
It's Survival of the Sickest by Dr. Sharon Moalem, and the parasite is called Taxoplasma Gondii. I was wrong about some of the details. The parasite actually infects about half the world; 20% of the US population and 90% of the people in France are infected, for example. Humans acquire it "by eating undercooked meat or poorly washed vegetables or after handling cat litter." Then the parasite establishes itself in muscle and brain cells. In mice and rats, the parasite alters their brain to make them lose their natural fear of cats. Cats eat the rodents and the parasite (which only breeds in cats) completes its life cycle.
In humans, the parasite is largely benign, but may complicate some illnesses--especially in pregnant women. Professor Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague found the correlation that women with the parasite spend more money on clothes, care more about how they look, and are "more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends." Men with the infection are more likely to be "less well groomed...suspicious and jealous and less willing to follow rules." Wow!
I have to admit: I partly wanted to write this post because this is not the first time I haven't been able to think of this title. Now I just have to remember to search my own posts. Nice. I also picked up a copy from the library to re-read it. If you're interested you might want to check it out from your local library, too. Or, I guess if you own a cat, who knows: maybe you'll buy it.
