The Cat Parasite That Tricks Rat Brains | Microbe Minute

Rats are clever enough to stay away from feline predators...usually. But find one that’s infected with a specific microbe - Toxoplasma gondii - and that rat might be heading straight into the jaws of death.
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[@Socratica]

Toxoplasmosis may explain why we're turning into a crazy cat family in our house. 😁😁😸😸 Thanks for the fun teaser for this topic!

[@anaphylaxis5554]

The infection has begun…

[@QuantumFengShui]

Amazon need to list this so I can use it instead of rat poison

[@zackattack29]

How do scavenging animals like vultures use microbes to not get sick from what they eat ?

[@zombiegammarid6474]

I'm quite confused with the title on Medium : "Cats Are Controlling Rats With Their Poop.
They use a microbe called Toxoplasma."
Are you sure you want to introduce the subject this way ? :/

[@donkhorse]

Does this parasite harm the cats who are infected by it?

[@aniraslal1039]

no

[@jaedenvanderberg3890]

I don't get how microbes are in our food, or sort of are. Great, great show.

[@lotuspocus9994]

Nature is beautifully scary. Also did you know that this parasite can infect human brains too? Now you do :P

[@dansei3355]

Ya. Like 1/3rd of the population is infected with it. Luckily it doesn’t do much!

[@cesar8197]

:O