A parasite that takes control of the brain!
To ensure its reproduction, toxoplasmosis, a very widespread parasite, "vampirises" chimpanzees, driven to danger by their sense of smell. And U.S ?
It sounds like a bad SF film script and yet it's very real: parasites can influence our brain by disrupting our perceptions! It is a French team, Center of functional and evolutive ecology in Montpellier, attached to the CNRS, which today brings the proof through a study published on Monday 8 February in Current Biology.
A young French researcher, Clémence Poirotte, who is preparing her thesis in Gabon in a large primatology center in Franceville took the opportunity to conduct a very original study around chimpanzees.
"In recent years, work has appeared around a possible influence of toxoplasmosis on the human brain, slowing down reaction times or reducing concentration or even the sense of smell. However, to reproduce, this parasite must be found inside the organism of a feline. And it has been observed that mice infected by it, instead of fleeing cats and being afraid of them, on the contrary approached dangerously. man no longer has natural predators, we cannot test his reactions to them, so I had the idea of setting up an experiment around chimpanzees. "
The test of the urine of the leopard
Clémence Poirotte therefore observed the reactions of around thirty of these primates, carriers or not of the virus, when they came into contact with the urine of big cats. "What is remarkable is that chimpanzees carrying the virus become attracted to the urine of the leopard, their predator, and no other." In other words, instead of hugging their necks when they can detect the smell of this dreaded monkey eaters, attracted by its aroma, they linger at the risk of perishing.
The toxoplasmosis, banal parasite which nearly one in two humans is carrier, is able to remote control their behavior and lure their brains! It's a little cold in the back ...
To date, only the rabies virus has been known to affect behavior, causing infected animals to bite to spread the epidemic. Not humans, but affected individuals have a strange behavior. They become in particular hydrophobic, no longer supporting the contact of water. But to know if we are also guided by toxoplasmosis, we will have to wait for further studies.
Veronique Radier
https://www.nouvelobs.com/sciences/20160208.OBS4199/un-parasite-qui-prend-le-controle-du-cerveau.html
