Thursday 19 May 2022 10:10 AM Mind-altering parasite may make people more attractive, study finds trends now
While disease usually may make us worse for wear, one cunning parasite makes its human carriers more physically desirable, a new study claims.
In experiments, volunteers looked at photos of people who had and hadn't been infected with Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis.
The parasite spreads through exposure to infected cat faeces, as well as through contaminated food or sex with an infected person.
The study authors found that infected men and women were rated as appearing 'healthier and more attractive' than those not carrying the parasite.
It's likely the clever parasite somehow manipulates our appearance to make us more sexually desirable, which in turn increases its risk of being transmitted to other humans, although researchers don't known exactly how.
A disease-causing parasite known to cause psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations can make infected people more attractive, a study shows. Here shows composite images of 10 toxoplasma-infected women and 10 Toxoplasma-infected men (a), and 10 non-infected women and ten non-infected men (b)
Infected men and women were rated as appearing 'healthier and more attractive' than those not carrying the parasite, the experts found
The study was led by Javier Borráz-León, a biologist at the University of Turku in Finland, and published in PeerJ.
'Our results suggest that some sexually transmitted parasites, such as T. gondii, may produce changes in the appearance and behavior of the human host,' say the team.
'[This is done] either as a by-product of the infection or as the result of the manipulation of the parasite to increase its spread to new hosts.'
Acute toxoplasmosis in adults has already been associated with psychiatric symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.
In mice, toxoplasmosis has also been linked with a loss of fear of cats – a clever manipulation by the T. gondii parasite to increase the probability of transmission by way of ingestion by the feline.
Another study has shown male rats infected with T. gondii were preferred as sexual partners by non-infected female rats.
For this new study, the experts compared 35 men and women infected with T. gondii and 178 men and women who did not have the parasite.
As well as having their photos taken, various measures were taken to determine their overall health, including body mass index (BMI) and hand grip strength.
Other data collected included number of minor ailments, self-perceived attractiveness and number of sexual partners.
3D rendering of Toxoplasma gondii, an parasitic protozoan that causes the disease toxoplasmosis