Written and published on 26 September 2017

• TOXOPLASMA GONDII INFECTION MAY MAKE HUMANS MORE RISK-TAKING
• SUGGESTED CLINICAL TRIALS
  • The Risk-Taking Subtype of Antisocial Personality Disorder Patients and Toxoplasmosis
  • Delinquency or HIV / AIDS and Toxoplasmosis
  • Smoking, Alcohol Addiction, or Recreational Drug Addiction and Toxoplasmosis
  • Bad Driving and Toxoplasmosis
• FUTURE TOXOPLASMOSIS TESTING AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS

Dear Ones,

TOXOPLASMA GONDII INFECTION MAY MAKE HUMANS MORE RISK-TAKING

I was just reading about our commensal micro-organisms, and I found out there’s a Protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii that is found in 22-84 percent of humans. (1)

In the United States, about 11% of the population is infected with Toxoplasma gondii (2), whereas in France, the infection rate is 84%. (3) Incidence is higher in developed countries.

Apparently, infection with this Protozoan makes humans more risk-taking (less risk-averse). (1)

SUGGESTED CLINICAL TRIALS

The Risk-Taking Subtype of Antisocial Personality Disorder Patients and Toxoplasmosis

One subtype of antisocial personalities is ‘risk-taking’ …

Subtype: “Risk-taking antisocial (including histrionic features)”
Features: “Dauntless, venturesome, intrepid, bold, audacious, daring; reckless, foolhardy, heedless; unfazed by hazard; pursues perilous ventures.”

–from Link: “Antisocial Personality Disorder,” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder … WP:CC BY-SA ..

Thus it might be good to run a clinical trial on patients diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder, Subtype Risk-taking to determine the incidence of toxoplasmosis.

Delinquency or HIV / AIDS and Toxoplasmosis

I’ve read that in HIV / AIDS patients, toxoplasmosis can cause serious or even fatal illness. (3)

There is some association of HIV / AIDS infection with delinquency and risk-taking. (4)

For instance, I’ve read that various stages of HIV / AIDS are associated with different levels of risk-taking with regard to the disease. For instance, high risk behaviors precede testing positive. Once there is a positive test, then risk reducing behaviors may take place. If the disease is quiescent, then a patient may, to some extent, resume risk taking behaviors. Then if AIDS is diagnosed, risk reducing behaviors may resume. (5)

If the disease of toxoplasmosis itself contributes to risk taking, and contraction of HIV associates to risk-taking, then there might be a personality trait of risk taking, and a disease producing risk-taking behavior that aggravates the underlying personality trait.

Thus, theoretically, if HIV / AIDS patients also have toxoplasmosis, treatment for toxoplasmosis might prolong their lives by ceasing to aggravate the risk-taking personality trait.

Thus It might be helpful to run a clinical trial on incidence of toxoplasmosis among delinquents, and among HIV / AIDS patients, to see if there is a higher incidence in these populations.

Smoking, Alcohol Addiction, or Recreational Drug Addiction and Toxoplasmosis

It would make sense to run a clinical trial on addicts, whether to nicotene, to alcohol, or to recreational drugs, to determine whether toxoplasmosis plays a role in these risk-taking behaviors.

Bad Drivers and Toxoplasmosis

On the assumption that bad drivers may be people with risk-taking personalities, it might be good to run a clinical trial on this population, to see if toxoplasmosis plays a role in bad driving.

FUTURE TOXOPLASMOSIS TESTING AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS

If any of the above populations turn out to have a higher incidence of toxoplasmosis, then testing and treating them as needed (6) might be undertaken in future.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

For a complete list of my blogs and compendiums on HIV / AIDS see … Link: “Compendium: HIV / AIDS Pandemic,” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 2 March 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-bPl ..

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FOOTNOTES

(1) See Link: “The Organisms That Make Us Who We Are,” in IFLScience … http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/organisms-make-us-who-we-are/ … see the subheading: “Organisms that Can Alter Your Behavior?”

(2) See Link: “Parasites – Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma infection),” by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) … https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/epi.html ..

(3) See Link: “Toxoplasma gondii” in Wikipedia … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii ..

(4) See Link: “AIDS knowledge, condom attitudes, and risk-taking sexual behavior of substance-abusing juvenile offenders on probation or parole,” by Robertson A …, Levin ML. in AIDS Educ Prev. 1999 Oct;11(5):450-61 … https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10555628 ..

(5) See Link: “Changes in Transmission Risk Behaviors Across Stages of HIV Diseases Among People Living with HIV / AIDS,” by Lisa A. Eaton and Seth C. Kalichman, in J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 Jan 31. Published in final edited form as: J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2009 Jan-Feb; 20(1): 39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.jana.2008.10.005 … https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC35604012/ ..

(6) See … http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxoplasmosis/diagnosis-treatment/treatment/txc-20338305 ..

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health, psychiatry, psychology, AIDS, bad driving, HIV, antisocial personality disorder, risk-taking, delinquency, HIV/AIDS, smoking, alcohol addiction, recreational drug use, addiction, xoplasma gondii, toxoplasmosis, nicotine, alcohol,