Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort.
<h4>Background</h4>Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite present in around a third of the human population. Infected individuals are commonly asymptomatic, though recent reports have suggested that infection might influence aspects of the host's behavior. In particul...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148435&type=printable |
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| author | Karen Sugden Terrie E Moffitt Lauriane Pinto Richie Poulton Benjamin S Williams Avshalom Caspi |
| author_facet | Karen Sugden Terrie E Moffitt Lauriane Pinto Richie Poulton Benjamin S Williams Avshalom Caspi |
| author_sort | Karen Sugden |
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| description | <h4>Background</h4>Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite present in around a third of the human population. Infected individuals are commonly asymptomatic, though recent reports have suggested that infection might influence aspects of the host's behavior. In particular, Toxoplasma infection has been linked to schizophrenia, suicide attempt, differences in aspects of personality and poorer neurocognitive performance. However, these studies are often conducted in clinical samples or convenience samples.<h4>Methods/results</h4>In a population-representative birth-cohort of individuals tested for presence of antibodies to T. gondii (N = 837) we investigated the association between infection and four facets of human behavior: neuropsychiatric disorder (schizophrenia and major depression), poor impulse control (suicidal behavior and criminality), personality, and neurocognitive performance. Suicide attempt was marginally more frequent among individuals with T. gondii seropositivity (p = .06). Seropositive individuals also performed worse on one out of 14 measures of neuropsychological function.<h4>Conclusion</h4>On the whole, there was little evidence that T. gondii was related to increased risk of psychiatric disorder, poor impulse control, personality aberrations or neurocognitive impairment. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3f33bcbefd6d407db88eb4246bb0bcac |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| spelling | doaj-art-3f33bcbefd6d407db88eb4246bb0bcac2025-08-20T03:10:08ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01112e014843510.1371/journal.pone.0148435Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort.Karen SugdenTerrie E MoffittLauriane PintoRichie PoultonBenjamin S WilliamsAvshalom Caspi<h4>Background</h4>Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite present in around a third of the human population. Infected individuals are commonly asymptomatic, though recent reports have suggested that infection might influence aspects of the host's behavior. In particular, Toxoplasma infection has been linked to schizophrenia, suicide attempt, differences in aspects of personality and poorer neurocognitive performance. However, these studies are often conducted in clinical samples or convenience samples.<h4>Methods/results</h4>In a population-representative birth-cohort of individuals tested for presence of antibodies to T. gondii (N = 837) we investigated the association between infection and four facets of human behavior: neuropsychiatric disorder (schizophrenia and major depression), poor impulse control (suicidal behavior and criminality), personality, and neurocognitive performance. Suicide attempt was marginally more frequent among individuals with T. gondii seropositivity (p = .06). Seropositive individuals also performed worse on one out of 14 measures of neuropsychological function.<h4>Conclusion</h4>On the whole, there was little evidence that T. gondii was related to increased risk of psychiatric disorder, poor impulse control, personality aberrations or neurocognitive impairment.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148435&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Karen Sugden Terrie E Moffitt Lauriane Pinto Richie Poulton Benjamin S Williams Avshalom Caspi Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. PLoS ONE |
| title | Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. |
| title_full | Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. |
| title_fullStr | Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. |
| title_short | Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection Related to Brain and Behavior Impairments in Humans? Evidence from a Population-Representative Birth Cohort. |
| title_sort | is toxoplasma gondii infection related to brain and behavior impairments in humans evidence from a population representative birth cohort |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148435&type=printable |
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