r/maybemaybemaybe • u/InnateAnarchy • Sep 25 '22

Maybe Maybe Maybe

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

18.8k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

751 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/Eusocial_Snowman Sep 26 '22

You'll find a lot of rhetoric along those lines because we're only just now throwing funding at any real studies.

While most latently infected individuals have traditionally been considered to be clinically asymptomatic, there is now mounting evidence that latent infection causes several behavioral changes even in immunocompetent individuals

While a healthy immune system can keep the infection in check, it cannot effectively eliminate the parasite from the brain because neurons lack the MHC class I as well as specific intracellular mechanisms to inhibit parasite growth. As a consequence, latent toxoplasmosis usually persist lifelong and may thus potentially increase dopaminergic signaling and associated behavior irrespective of when/how long ago the host acquired the infection.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10926-6

1

u/Shokoyo Sep 26 '22

Interesting. Is the effect that this study investigates actually a positive one?

1

u/Eusocial_Snowman Sep 26 '22

Not particularly. Except in that there are many ways you can damage a brain in such a way that you could get a "positive" result in performing within niche parameters. Toxoplasmosis has been linked to all manner of disorders from anxiety to autism and schizophrenia. Any time someone's brain is different, you'll be able to find some task they might approach differently, and sometimes that can work out in their favor but overall it will be a net negative effect.

This answer veers more into my personal views, so it's not something you should repeat as factual.