Common parasite turns 'cat ladies' into 'crazy cat ladies' claim scientists

It turns out there’s a bacteria in cat shit that makes the people it inhabits more likely to go crazy and more likely to commit suicide.

Surely that puts paid to any lingering arguments over whether dogs or cats are the coolest animal to have around the home.

Apparently, about a third of the world’s population is infected with the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite, which hides in cells in the brain and muscles, often without producing symptoms such as the extreme ones displayed by Eleanor Abernathy, The Simpson's resident crazy cat lady.

The T. gondii parasite loves the intestines of cats, and it is spread through oocysts passed in their faeces. All warm-blooded animals can become infected through ingestion of these oocysts.

Humans most commonly get affected while their infected cats’ litter boxes, as well eating unwashed vegetables, drinking water from a contaminated source, or more by eating undercooked or raw meat infested with cysts.

The findings were published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry.