Induction of changes in human behaviour by the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii
Induction of changes in human behaviour by the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii
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DOI：
10.1017/s0031182000066269
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发表时间：
1996-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Frynta, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Flegr, J;Zitkova, S;Frynta, D
弓形虫是一种球虫寄生虫，已知它会引起中间宿主的行为变化。这种寄生虫在人群中的高流行率（20-80%）提供了通过筛选正常人群来研究寄生虫对人类行为影响的机会。共有224名男性和170名女性进行了弓形虫病测试，并通过卡特尔问卷测量了他们的个性特征。弓形虫感染者与未感染者之间有极显著性差异（P < 0.01）。对男性而言，感染者的G（低超我强度）、L（预张力）、O（内疚倾向）和Q2（群体依赖性）等因素均受到积极影响。女性的主要因子为情感性心境障碍（A）、共济失调（L）、无障碍性充足（O）和自给自足（Q2）。为了揭示弓形虫病是否会引起人格因素的变化，或者某些人格因素的组合是否会影响获得弓形虫感染的概率，我们检查了过去13年中诊断为急性弓形虫病的164名男性患者的人格特征。弓形虫潜伏期与超我强度下降的强度呈正相关（P < 0.02），提示T.弓形虫感染
Toxoplasma gondii, the coccidian parasite, is known to induce changes in the behaviour of its intermediate hosts. The high prevalence of this parasite in the human population (20-80%) offers the opportunity of studying the influence of the parasite on human behaviour by screening of a normal population. A total of 224 men and 170 women were tested for toxoplasmosis and their personality profiles were measured by Cattell's questionnaire. Highly significant differences between Toxoplasma-infected and uninfected subjects were observed (P < 0.01). For men the factors G (low superego strength), L (pretension), O (guilt proneness), and Q2 (group dependency) were positively influenced in infected subjects. For women the prevailing factors were A (affectothymia, P < 0.01), L (alaxia), O (untroubled adequacy) and Q2 (self-sufficiency). To reveal whether toxoplasmosis induces personality factor-shifts or whether certain combinations of personality factors influence the probability of acquiring Toxoplasma infection, we examined the personality profiles of 164 male patients diagnosed with acute toxoplasmosis during the past 13 years. The existence of a positive correlation between the duration of latent toxoplasmosis and the intensity of superego strength decrease (P < 0.02) suggested that the decrease of superego strength (the willingness to accept group moral standards) was induced by T. gondii infection.