Toxoplasma gondii, a “mind-controlling” parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis, has been found in public lands in Oahu, Hawaii for the first time, researchers have discovered. One of the ways that Toxoplasma gondii affects mice and rats is by tweaking their brain chemistry to change their behavior. Rodents typically avoid cats, but under T. gondii’s “mind control” they seek out felines. And that’s exactly what T. gondii wants, because the infected rats need to be ingested by cats in order for T. gondii to complete its life cycle.
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