Unbelievable: They find that people infected with toxoplasmosis become more attractive

First, let’s contain ourselves. It is not a question of rushing to seek the most effective way to contract toxoplasmosis. It is true that the desire is not lacking, some of us even need it, but everything has a limit.

It so happens that a strange study, which was reviewed by colleagues, found that the toxoplasma gondiione of the most common parasites in the world, would manipulate the phenotypic characteristics of its hosts so that become more attractive and improve their reproductive success.

“Parasites are one of the most negative factors affecting our health, but if they diminish a host’s health to such an extent that finding a partner has become impossible for himthen the parasite would also reduce its chances of reproducing and passing on to the next generation, “the scientists said.

For the study, which was conducted University of Turkufrom Finland, and whose results were published in peerjthe researchers compared 35 infected people with 178 people who weren’t.

The idea of ​​the work, which was directed by Javier Borráz-León, of the Department of Biology of the University of Turku, was to verify whether this parasite that affects half of the world’s population you can make humans more attractive to increase your success.

Thus, 205 independent evaluators, who did not know that some people were infected, compared the two groups of participants as much for their attractiveness and their body mass index as for the symmetry of their face and the number of sexual partners.

The study found that men infected with T. Gondii they had more symmetrical facesand women had a lower BMI as well as higher self-perceived attractiveness than non-infected.

Furthermore, both women and men infected were infected perceived as more attractive that not infected by independent evaluators.

Changes in appearance and behavior

Although it may be a byproduct of the infection and not the result of manipulating the parasite to increase its spread to new hosts, the study results suggest that sexually transmitted parasites such as T. gondii could produce changes in the appearance and behavior of a human host.

Previous studies have found that T. gondii, common in domestic cats, reaches change the behavior of mice to make them more reckless, and therefore more likely to end up in a cat’s claws.

In terms of sex appeal, a 2011 study also found that T. gondii produces some changes in testosterone levels in male rats, which become sexually more attractive and preferred as a sexual partner by uninfected females.

Headache, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

It is common for T. gondii to pass to humans through cat feces. In humans, this protozoan it can lodge itself in the brain and remain dormant for years.

Toxoplasmosis is linked headache, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. It is especially dangerous in pregnant women, as it can cause severe changes in the fetus’ brain.

The infection can be cured, but T. Gondii is a particularly resistant parasite and difficult to completely eliminate from the body. Sure, in many cases no symptoms develop (Except maybe to make yourself more attractive.)

Source: Gizmodo