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Tue 23 Sep, 2003 11:40 am
Wife Reckless? Hubby Morose? Blame the Cat
Tue Sep 23,10:05 AM ET
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Kicking the cat may be a metaphor about venting frustrations on the innocent family feline, but could it be that Snowball really is to blame?
Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague told Reuters his research showed a parasite called toxoplasma gondii in cats, rabbits or raw meat, may make women reckless and friendly while making men jealous and morose.
Just contracting the bug might not be life-threatening but infected women behind the wheel can be fatal, and those out for a stroll in busy traffic may be a hazard, he said.
"It is not much fun. Our research has shown that toxoplasmosis raises 2.6 times the risk of a traffic accident by prolonging the reaction time of infected people," he said.
"It is not only about driving accidents but also about the probability of being run over by a car."
Flegr said his research shows men infected by the bug tend to be quiet, withdrawn, suspicious, jealous and dogmatic. He said he could not find a reason for the different reactions.
The illness could be responsible for up to one million of deaths on the roads worldwide, making it the one of the deadliest parasitic diseases, second only to malaria, he said.
Re: Wife Reckless? Hubby Morose? Blame the Cat
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:Wife Reckless? Hubby Morose? Blame the Cat
Tue Sep 23,10:05 AM ET
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Kicking the cat may be a metaphor about venting frustrations on the innocent family feline, but could it be that Snowball really is to blame?
Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague told Reuters his research showed a parasite called toxoplasma gondii in cats, rabbits or raw meat, may make women reckless and friendly while making men jealous and morose.
Just contracting the bug might not be life-threatening but infected women behind the wheel can be fatal, and those out for a stroll in busy traffic may be a hazard, he said.
"It is not much fun. Our research has shown that toxoplasmosis raises 2.6 times the risk of a traffic accident by prolonging the reaction time of infected people," he said.
"It is not only about driving accidents but also about the probability of being run over by a car."
Flegr said his research shows men infected by the bug tend to be quiet, withdrawn, suspicious, jealous and dogmatic. He said he could not find a reason for the different reactions.
The illness could be responsible for up to one million of deaths on the roads worldwide, making it the one of the deadliest parasitic diseases, second only to malaria, he said.
Please don't think I'm picking on you BBB, or this article in particular, but is just so illustrative of what I see every time I open my homepage in Yahoo and other sites that
seem to be presenting health news. Actually, it's about on the level of the old 'hemline' theory of stockmarket prediction. Truely, if the people needing to churn out x many words per day for a health and fitness column were ever required to commit to wording like "it is" instead of "it may be", they would all have to resign for lack of material.
I noticed the trend long before this post, by the way. Maybe I should cross post to Noddy's thread on life's little aggrevations.
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