Behavioral and Personality Changes Caused by Toxoplasma: Imagination or Reality

Abstract

Introduction: This note addresses the scientific study of behavioral changes caused by Toxoplasma. About a third of the world's population is infected with the chronic form of the parasite, which is usually asymptomatic and causes severe symptoms only in the presence of the parasite in the eye and nervous system. The study of behavioral changes caused by this parasite has begun since the 1980s and continues to this day. According to the results of these studies, infected men and women exhibit behavioral and personality changes. The mechanism of these changes is still unclear, but there are hypotheses about it that are under evaluation.