Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Scientists have recently discovered that a microbial parasite may be making people schizophrenic.

The story is at Yahoo News. It seems that the parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has evolved to live in cats and rats. In cats, it sheds eggs that are eaten by rats. The rats remain perfectly healthy... almost. There is a subtle but important effect: whereas uninfected rats are terrified by the smell of cat urine, infected rats are attracted to it, making them convenient meals for felines, and so the parasite completes its life cycle.

Toxoplasma gondii also infects three billion humans--half the people on the planet. It damages astrocytes, cells in the brain that have been found to be damaged in schizophrenics. High levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma in pregnant women mean that their children are more likely to develop schizophrenia. And in cell cultures, growth of Toxoplasma is stopped by haldoperidol (Haldol), an anti-psychotic drug. Haldol also restores infected rats' fear of cat urine; it's as effective as Toxoplasma-specific antibiotics.

If microbes can cause schizophrenia in humans, risky behavior in rats, and gymnastics in ants (also described in the Yahoo article), then we still have a lot to learn about how to be healthy. We have had microscopes for hundreds of years, but it takes more than microscopes to discover links between microbes and illness. There are hundreds of different kinds of microbes in the human body, and most of them are harmless (as far as we know). What we need is to be able to get down to the biochemical level with broad-spectrum chemical probes, diagnostic devices small enough to be safely implanted in living humans, real-time DNA and protein analysis, and computers powerful enough to analyze massive reams of information and look for useful patterns.

Medical research is advancing rapidly, and the next ten years may see a number of new discoveries based on early versions of microbe-analyzing tools. But molecular manufacturing could make it a lot easier to do such research. Vastly more powerful computers, smaller and more numerous sensors, and molecular analysis tools that can be reshaped for each molecule of interest, should make it a lot more practical to learn exactly what our microbe companions are doing to us.

Comments

[Chris Phoenix, CRN]

For more on the research that led to the above article, see here:
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Schizovirus.html

[shegeek]

Speaking of pre-mainstream theories of microbes and human cognitive dysfunction, I wonder how many in the forward-thinking community are aware of the Marshall Pathogenesis and Protocol. Together, they provide an understanding of and cure for autoimmune disorders such as sarcoidosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and lupus, many of which have cognitive symptoms.

The pathogenesis describes how L-form bacteria create and use hormone imbalances, particularly elevated serum vitamin D, to fool the immune system and parasitize cells. The protocol involves diet and lifestyle modifications (including strict avoidance of sunlight on the skin and bright light in the eyes) to lower the levels of both storage and serum levels of vitamin D, low dose pulsed antibiotics to help the immune system kill the microbes, and an angiotensin receptor blocker to mitigate the effects of microbial die-off. I am about midway through the protocol and am doing well.

Some relevant research papers are available here.

[Chris Phoenix, CRN]

I'm a little suspicious of the idea of low dosage pulsed antibiotics. It sounds like a great way to develop antibiotic-resistant bacteria. I guess the pulsing might reduce the incidence of resistant bacteria, depending on the timing and dosages. Sorry, but I don't have time to research it enough to comment more fully.

Chris

[Phillip Huggan]

I didn't shoot that 78 yr old man in the face, it was the microbe!

[shegeek]

Chris, thanks for your reply! I don't blame you for not being able to pursue this. I can bear witness to what a huge time commitment it takes.

For anyone else following this who is interested, the quick explanation is that these are antibiotic resistant bacteria. They acquired their ability to change form in response to the widespread use of beta lactam antibiotics i.e. penicillin. The protocol has been designed to minimize this risk, using ultra low doses of specific antibiotic types. The protocol staff can explain it better than I can, a quick lay explanation is here.