The flu takes over our brains and forces us to act weird... no, seriously...
As I'm doing research for the random articles I write to support my "being a mother" and "doing stuff I want" habits, I occasionally come across other random articles or scientific research that blows my mind.
Like this one today:
"Change in Human Social Behavior in Response to a Common Vaccine" from the Annals of Epidemiology.
Basically, the take-home is that when a virus- specifically the flu virus- infects us, we humans change our behavior. We become more social, hanging out with more people in larger groups, for the 48 hours immediately after infection. Before symptoms show up. And, conveniently, a great time for that friendly virus to spread to others in the community.
I've often bored people to death with talked about toxoplasmosis and its effect on the rats that catch it. Basically, for those who DON'T know this story- toxoplasmosis is a parasite that infects rats and gets carried by cats. When it infects a rat, it changes the rat's brain and behavior- making the rat temporarily braver and more curious- which makes it more likely to get eaten by a cat. The cat will then carry the disease to the next area it visits, where it will expel the parasite in its feces, to get eaten by rats, who will become braver... you probably see where this is going.
Up til now, I was unaware of any infectious diseases altering the brains and behavior of humans. But apparently, the flu appears to do so.
Kinda creepy, huh?
(BTW- disclaimer and mini-rant: The study looked at a live flu vaccine, which induces the same changes in behavior as the flu itself- so anti-vax people can stop their "OMG- the flu vax is evil" crap right about now cuz I don't wanna hear it. The science is not about the vax, its about the virus- the vax was a model because it is unethical to go around injecting people with an active virus that's potentially deadly just to look at behavioral changes.)
Like this one today:
"Change in Human Social Behavior in Response to a Common Vaccine" from the Annals of Epidemiology.
Basically, the take-home is that when a virus- specifically the flu virus- infects us, we humans change our behavior. We become more social, hanging out with more people in larger groups, for the 48 hours immediately after infection. Before symptoms show up. And, conveniently, a great time for that friendly virus to spread to others in the community.
I've often bored people to death with talked about toxoplasmosis and its effect on the rats that catch it. Basically, for those who DON'T know this story- toxoplasmosis is a parasite that infects rats and gets carried by cats. When it infects a rat, it changes the rat's brain and behavior- making the rat temporarily braver and more curious- which makes it more likely to get eaten by a cat. The cat will then carry the disease to the next area it visits, where it will expel the parasite in its feces, to get eaten by rats, who will become braver... you probably see where this is going.
Up til now, I was unaware of any infectious diseases altering the brains and behavior of humans. But apparently, the flu appears to do so.
Kinda creepy, huh?
(BTW- disclaimer and mini-rant: The study looked at a live flu vaccine, which induces the same changes in behavior as the flu itself- so anti-vax people can stop their "OMG- the flu vax is evil" crap right about now cuz I don't wanna hear it. The science is not about the vax, its about the virus- the vax was a model because it is unethical to go around injecting people with an active virus that's potentially deadly just to look at behavioral changes.)