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Is your cat driving you to suicide? Okay, it may not exactly be driving you there, but
his or her litter box could be affecting your mental health. I'm Kimberly Walleston, and
that story is right Nowwwww! Insider's Health News. :)
If you thought that the worst part about your cat was the litter box, you just might be
on to something. But it's not just the hard-to-grab clumps or the aggressive odor... it may be
a breeding ground for an infection tied preliminarily to suicide attempts.
The microscopic bug, Toxoplasma gondil, is actually present in about one-third of the
world's population. And while many people will never know they have it -- and almost
everyone affected will not attempt suicide -- it is apparently still a cause for concern.
Especially when it can be found in your feline's bathroom.
After a small group of women attempting suicide were all found with raised levels of T. gondil,
Dr. Teodor Postolache, the director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University
of Maryland School of Medicine, wanted to know more. He discovered that the critter
had already been associated with schizophrenia, and there were even studies that drew a connection
with suicide. So he and his colleagues borrowed a group of allergy sufferers in Denmark, looking
among the almost 46,000 women used between 1992 and 1995.
What he found was that women infected with T. gondil had a 1.5 times higher risk of attempting
suicide compared to women with no infection. And according to his study published in the
Archives of General Psychiatry, the more antibodies found reacting to the invader, the higher
the risk of suicide.
While Postolache is quick to temper any hysteria about litter boxes or cats in general, noting
that you have a very likely chance of having T. gondil and never even realizing it, other
professionals are looking to use his findings to help with other psychiatric problems. It
could really broaden the way that some approach the medical side of mental illness.
So don't get rid of your cat just yet, and only try and teach them to use the toilet
if you have a lot of free time on your hands. But if you feel any thoughts that are becoming
darker than usual, it's not bad to include your penchant for kittens to your doctor.
That's it for this edition of Insider's Health News. I'm your host, Kimberly Walleston.
And remember: it's your health. We're just helping you think outside the docs.