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Research article -BMC Infectious Diseases
How Much of this is caused by Toxoplasmosis? Link to More Gruesome Pictures?
Increased incidence of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected military drivers and protective effect RhD molecule revealed by a large-scale prospective cohort study
Abstract
Background
Methods
Male draftees who attended the Central Military Hospital in Prague for regular entrance psychological examinations between 2000 and 2003 were tested for Toxoplasma infection and RhD phenotype at the beginning of their 1 to1.5-year compulsory military service. Subsequently, the data on Toxoplasma infection and RhD phenotype were matched with those on traffic accidents from military police records and the effects of RhD phenotype and Toxoplasma infection on probability of traffic accident was estimated with logistic regression.
Results
We confirmed, using for the first time a prospective cohort study design, increased risk of traffic accidents in Toxoplasma-infected subjects and demonstrated a strong protective effect of RhD positivity against the risk of traffic accidents posed by latent toxoplasmosis. Our results show that RhD-negative subjects with high titers of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies had a probability of a traffic accident of about 16.7%, i.e. a more than six times higher rate than Toxoplasma-free or RhD-positive subjects.Conclusion
Our results showed that a common infection by Toxoplasma gondii could have strong impact on the probability of traffic accident in RhD negative subjects. The observed effects could provide not only a clue to the long-standing evolutionary enigma of the origin of RhD polymorphism in humans (the effect of balancing selection), but might also be the missing piece in the puzzle of the physiological function of the RhD molecule.
Background
A protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects 20–60% of the population in most countries, depending on climate, hygienic standards and cooking habits [1]. Postnatally acquired toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent subjects causes mild disease, acute toxoplasmosis, which turns spontaneously into lifelong latent toxoplasmosis. Latent toxoplasmosis is characterized by the presence of the dormant cyst stage of the parasite mainly in the neural and muscular tissues and immunity against new Toxoplasma infections [2,3]. Latent toxoplasmosis in humans is considered as clinically asymptomatic [4,5].
However, infected people have impaired reaction times [6] and about 2.6 times higher risk of traffic accidents [7,8], possibly as a result of manipulation activity ofToxoplasma aimed to increase the chance of transmission from the intermediate to the definitive host, i.e. from any bird or mammal species to any feline species, by predation...
Ask the question - was Toxoplasmosis a major factor?
Important Editor's Note:
First, it won't be long before insurance companies and governments begin to start screening drivers as the cost of all this traffic carnage and death caused by toxoplasmosis rises, and is thus passed back to consumers. Just as governments screen older drivers for dementia, a disease with similar implications, so too will it become practical and mandatory to screen everyone, on a regular basis, for impairing diseases that could be more dangerous to road safety than excessive alcohol consumption.
(By the way, the FDA should ensure that all commercial airline pilots are regularly screened and cleared for any evidence of this parasite - we have no interest in ever boarding any plane piloted by an infected individual.) Do you??
The second very important point is " how many other accidents are being caused by toxoplasmosis? These could include numerous and various domestic, labour, and hunting deaths, to name a just few, which are simply passed off as "everyday random occurrences" by medical authorities presiding at the scene. But, they are not! For a much deeper root cause may or goes undetected by even the very best of our medical professionals and devices.Only the most apparent immediate cause is therefore reported into the system, with far-reaching implications. All this means the actual death toll attributable to toxoplasmosis is much higher than reported. Some scientists in this study suggest, that the annual figure may exceed 1 million, and that is much higher than the 750,000 deaths caused by the malaria parasite, or the Ebola virus. Something to think about?
Two inferences are clear from this study; much more research and testing is required to determine actual costs and casualties; much more screening and awareness needs to be brought to the general population, military and government as to the issues pertaining to this quiet, latent and oft times lethal parasite - toxoplasmosis! As Donald Rumsfeld forewarns the real dangers often lie in the - "unknown, unknowns" - wise and brilliant words, we apply to this invisible creature owning dark existential intentions.
The Save Our Kids Toxoplasmosis Coalition
The Save Our Kids Toxoplasmosis Coalition
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"Today, is the beginning of tomorrows' wisdom"
"Today, is the beginning of tomorrows' wisdom"
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