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July 10, 2009
Brain worms: one in five are infested
By Doug Korthof
Little-known problem of brain worms affects all of us.
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This is a disgusting, but necessary topic for everyone who is currently exposed. Many don't know of the danger.
BRAIN WORMS: 'Toxoplasma gondii'
It's worm-like, really, in only one stage of its life-cycle:
This parasite is a protozoa (one-celled creature) that dwells in the body of mammals and spreads by contact with infectious cat feces or ingestion of undercooked meat. The brain worm protects itself by encysting and is amazingly hardy, able to survive in hostile environments outside of the host body, even in salt water, dirt, or sewage treatment plants, for many months.
Only high prolonged temperatures are capable of killing the "oocysts" that protect the worm.
There is a serum test for toxoplasmosis which indicates it's one of the most common of humans infections throughout the world, mostly in warm climates in North and South America -- and France, where they eat undercooked meat, truffles and other unsavory things.
According to the Government's third National Health and Nutritional Assessment Survey (NHANES III) between 1988 and 1994, Toxoplasma "brain worms" were found in 22.5% of the US population, more than 60 million infestations.
The Toxoplasma gondii is unusual in that it can cause behavioral changes in the host, some of which seem to aid in its reproductive cycle. For example, mice infected with brain worms lose their fear of cat urine, and thus are more readily ingested by cats, leading to infestation of the predating cat, and further spread of the oocysts in that cat's feces over the next few weeks.
There is some evidence that infected humans exhibit behavioral changes, also, losing curiosity and becoming more tranquil in the face of danger, or on the other hand exhibiting various clinical pathologies.
"Brain worms" are the third leading cause of death attributed to food-borne illness in the United States.
According to the CDC, "...More that 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness."
Surfers and swimmers, in particular, are most at risk. But magazines such as "Surfer Boy" shrug off the problem, claiming that it only affects those with weakened immune systems; naturally, all the surfers imagine that they don't have weak systems.
But continued ingestion of viable brain worm oocysts can lead to huge numbers of them infesting the brain, causing continuous strain on the immune system so that other illnesses are potentially more likely and more serious. In addition, if the brain worms overwhelm the host immune system, they spread to other cells, reproducing and bursting those cells while multiplying the "brain worm breakout".
It's possible that many who die of aneurisms are, in reality, suffering from swollen brain, stuffed with huge numbers of encysted brain worms. Only the immune system's antibodies keep the brain worms encysted; when and if the immune system fails, some host cells will be infested and spew more brain worms to kill other cells.
The etiology of "brain worms" is very similar to that of "Raccoon Roundworms", which have a similar life cycle.
----THE BRAIN WORM (T.gondii) IN ITS NATURAL CYCLE
Cats are the main hosts for the sexual stages of brain worms.
Cats are infested, usually, by ingestion of raw meat, usually rodents, which in turn infested with the parasite via environmental cat feces.
After tissue cysts or oocysts are ingested by the cat, viable organisms ("worms", or worm-like threads) are released and invade epithelial (wall) cells of the small intestine. That is, they are capable of penetrating the walls of the digestive system, and, in fact, capable of migrating throughout the body, especially preferring the brain and retina.
They then sexually form oocysts, which are excreted in the feces for several weeks after infestation.
"The...oocyst takes 1 to 5 days after excretion to ... become infective. Although cats shed oocysts for only 1 to 2 weeks, large numbers may be shed. Oocysts can survive in the environment for several months and are remarkably resistant to disinfectants, freezing, and drying, but are killed by heating to 70°C for 10 minutes."
http://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/
After the feces dry, the oocysts are capable of being blown into the ambient air, and potentially ingested by mammals such as rodents, thus completing the life cycle. Ingestion by humans is an accidental byproduct.
Mammalian infestation occurs by:
1. Eating undercooked infected meat.
2. Accidental ingestion of the oocysts from decomposing feces in gardens, or from air-borne dust.
3. Other means, particularly in humans, such as sexual activity or transplants.
4. Not cleaning up cat feces immediately.
"The parasites form tissue cysts, most commonly in skeletal muscle, myocardium, and brain; these cysts may remain throughout the life of the host...Cysts are usually spherical in the brain but more elongated in cardiac and skeletal muscles. They may be found in various sites throughout the body of the host, but are most common in the brain and skeletal and cardiac muscles."
After finding itself in the digestive tract of a mammalian host, the oocytes hatch into "worms" capable of penetrating the intestinal wall and migrating throughout the host body.
----THE BRAIN WORM (T.gondii) IN A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
When cat feces bearing the oocysts are deposited into the sewage through toilet bowl disposal, the oocysts of the "brain worm" are thrown into a desperately hostile environment for which they were never prepared.
Instead of warm dirt in which to shelter and wait for ingestion by unwary mammals, and instead of cool breezes that carry oocysts up in the air and into the lungs and digestive tracts of potential hosts, they are plunged into the innards of the sewage treatment process, and then dumped into the Ocean.
Protozoa can, like virus, slip right through even full secondary treatment, perhaps even tertiary treatment, and remain viable. The only Health Dept. test for determining whether you're swimming in "safe" sewage, or "unsafe" sewage, is the test for LIVE E.Coli foecal bacteria; dead bacteria are not considered harmful, and there is currently no testing for virus or protozoa.
In addition to swimming in diffuse human feces, dead bacteria and virus, there's no legal bar to swimming in the midst of oocysts of T.gondii. It's not part of the dangers prevented by the current application of the Clean Water Act.
But imagine the poor oocysts: surrounded by salt water, 3 dimensions of hungry creatures gobbling any organic matter, and you can picture with what alacrity these hapless protozoans might latch onto the nasal passages of a warm-blooded surfer who happened by.
It's known that the Sea Otters of Monterey Bay are infested with these brain worms by eating shellfish bathed in sewage-borne T.gondii. So certainly, the oocysts find ways to remain viable in this Ocean environment for which they had not evolved.
Who knows what other sea creatures might provide temporary hosts for T.gondii? But no matter how long they survive in the cold Ocean, these small seeds of brain worms would certainly prefer any warm-blooded mammal that happened to become available.
One can, thus, speculate that everyone who swims in dead fecal matter, which includes almost all folks swimming within ten miles downstream of a sewage outfall, for example on the Mississippi River, are potentially swimming not only in the midst of virus, but also in the midst of a certain number of infectious T.gondii brain worms.
It remains as a challenge to test swimmers in places such as San Diego, which, due to an antiquated 301 (h) sewage waiver, are able to dispose of sewage solids into the Ocean after little more than a settling process. It's certain that T.gondii can evade being precipitated with fecal solids, and can be discharged into the open Ocean; but no study appears to have been done.
Hence, it is not yet known if T.gondii forms an infection-cluster with respect to those who swim in or near sewage that bears the oocysts.
----EFFECTS ON MAMMALS OF BRAIN WORM INFESTATION
In a lighter vein:
"[T.gondii,] a common parasite, can turn women into 'sex kittens' and make men more stupid says Nicky Boulter, a researcher at Sydney University...Humans are infected when they eat raw or undercooked meat that has cysts containing the parasite or accidentally ingest some of the parasite's eggs excreted by an infected cat. It was thought that the infection was not serious... In the latest issue of Australasian Science Dr Boulter writes about her findings and in particular the way the infection affects men and women differently. 'It can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens' stated Dr Boulter..."
http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=59150
"Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic. However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.
"If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans? Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:
* Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
* Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
* Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia..."
"Toxoplasma gondii and Behavior
"Toxoplasmosis Appears to Cause Personality and Psychological Changes
"© Rosemary Drisdelle
-------BRAIN WORM PATHOLOGY
"During the first few weeks, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness ... the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, people with a weakened immune system, such as those infected with HIV or pregnant, may become seriously ill, and it can occasionally be fatal. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases and can affect the heart, liver, and eyes (chorioretinitis) [encysted oocytes in the retina, which cannot be removed].
"Most patients who become infected with Toxoplasma gondii and develop toxoplasmosis do not know it...the infection enters a latent phase...forming cysts in nervous and muscle tissue...Inactive cysts may exist in a host which would evade detection...
"The cyst form of the parasite is extremely hardy, capable of surviving exposure to freezing down to -12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit), moderate temperatures and chemical disinfectants such as bleach, and can survive in the environment for over a year..."