*Ø* Blogmanac | Dangerrrr! cats could alter your personality

[When my son told me about this report I insisted to him that it must be a spoof, but apparently it's not!]

from The Sunday Times
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
September 21

"They may look like lovable pets but Britain’s estimated 9m domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter people’s personalities.

"The startling figures emerge from studies into toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by almost all the country’s feline population. They show that half of Britain’s human population carry the parasite in their brains, and that infected people may undergo slow but crucial changes in their behaviour.

"Infected men, suggests one new study, tend to become more aggressive, scruffy, antisocial and are less attractive. Women, on the other hand, appear to exhibit the “sex kitten” effect, becoming less trustworthy, more desirable, fun-loving and possibly more promiscuous.

"Interestingly, for those who draw glib conclusions about national stereotypes, the number of people infected in France is much higher than in the UK.

"The findings will not please cat lovers. The research — conducted at universities in Britain, the Czech Republic and America — was sponsored by the Stanley Research Medical Institute of Maryland, a leading centre for the study of mental illness."

Read on (if you dare) here