How your cat really -- as in medically -- could make you crazy

Now, it all begins to make sense: Why I am the way I am: slightly disturbed, neurotic and given to bouts of melancholia and -- new cool word I've learned -- acedia.

The cats that were family pets when I was growing up. The cats I have now -- have made me crazy.

OK, maybe I am playing with the hyperbole here. But a Czech scientist, featured in the March issue of The Atlantic, is gaining renown for his theory that a parasite, carried by cats and excreted in their feces, quietly invades human brains and contributes to mental health disorders, such as dementia and schizophrenia, and to car crashes and suicides.

Until recently, evolutionary biologist Jaroslav Flegr, 63, has been toiling in obscurity on taxoplasma (T gondii), the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis, according to The Atlantic article.

Any woman who has been pregnant will remember the admonition against cleaning out cat litter boxes. The reason? Cats -- and their feces -- are the primary source of T. gondii infection in humans. Doctors have long recognized that if a woman becomes infected with the parasite during pregnancy she can transit the disease to her fetus, where it can cause brain damage or death.

I first heard about toxoplasmosis when writing about AIDS in the early 1990s. It was one of those opportunistic infections that afflicts AIDS patients, with their weakened immune systems, and causes dementia in the end stages.

Many people carry the parasite: more than half the people in the world and about 11 percent of the population in the United States, according to positive results in national health screenings. For most children and adults, the infection at most causes mild flu-like systems. Conventional medical thinking says the parasite lies dormant in brain cells. But according to The Atlantic, Flegr and other scientists believes this 'latent'" parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others and, subtly, our personalities.

My husband read The Atlantic story with great interest. He has schizoaffective disorder -- a mental illness that has features of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. As he set the magazine down to tell me about the story, he looked askance at our two cats, Fluffy and Pippin, who were both sleeping at a safe distance from each other on the couch. (Five-month-old Pippin, pictured above, likes to attack 13-year-old Fluffy, hoping she'll play with him; she just hisses, grumbles and swats at him.)

I told my husband he shouldn't blame Fluffy and Pippin. If cat-shedding T. gondii caused his schizophrenia, it's likely he was infected when he was very young. His family  had cats when he was growing up.

Flegr himself is T. gondii positive and his passion for the subject stems from his own belief that being infected with the parasite has caused his personality quirks, The Atlantic said.

He blames the protozoan for shrinkage found in the cerebral cortexes of schizophrenia patients. In one study cited in the Atlantic article, almost all schizophrenia patients, shown by MRI scans to have brain shrinkage, tested positive for T. gondii. Another psychiatrist interviewed for the story, reviewed infection data and the MRI scans and concluded: "To me that suggests the parasite may trigger schizophrenia in genetically susceptible people."

Flegr isn't telling people to stopping having cats, The Atlantic says. He has two cats himself. He says indoor cats pose no threat because they would never be exposed to the parasite by hunting and eating rodents and other animals. Even outdoor cats only shed the parasites for three weeks of their lives, "typically when they are young and have just begun hunting."

Pippin will soon start going outside and he will probably want to hunt. During his first few weeks of going outside, we should just be sure to keep the kitchen counters and tables wiped clean.

Does not reporting on suicide enhance the stigma of suicide and mental illness?

Monday's Walnut Creek Patch story about a 54-year-old man who apparently leaped to his death from Kaiser medical center's four-story garage prompted discussion about whether suicide is "news." That is, whether it is worth reporting. Inherent in the question are several possible beliefs.

One is that suicide is shameful and the man who died, Michael Spence of Livermore, should be spared that kind label attached to his death. The other is that reporting on suicides might give other people ideas.

Editor Dave Mills pointed out that news organizations usually report on suicides only if they happen in a public place where the event could have been witnessed by others. That is true. News organizations rarely report on suicides if the person overdoses on pills or shoots himself in the in the privacy of his own home.

You rarely see suicide mentioned as the cause of death in an obituary. However, sometimes you can pick up hints, if the person was fairly young and died suddenly and the family, in lieu of flowers, asks that donations be made to an organization such as the National Alliance on Mental Health.

One time, I did come across an obituary of a young man--yes, I am one of those people who scan the obituaries in the Contra Costa Times most mornings--and his family was very forthright in saying that their handsome son, in his 20s, died by taking his own life. The obituary explained that he had been dealing with the demons of depression and other terrifying symptoms of mental illness since he was a teenager.

My throat tightened with sadness for this family, but also with awe at their courage. They were not going to hide in shame at the cause of his death. They were going to be upfront that their son, like someone with cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, had a chronic and sometimes life-threatening illness. And, he died of that illness, not from some character or moral defect. With this obituary, the family was bravely doing its part to chip away at the stigma that surrounds mental illness and suicide.

Suicide is a major killer of Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health and Centers for Disease Control. In 2007,34,598 people died of self-inflicted injuries, making it the 11th leading cause of death, behind heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and accidents, including 41,059 who died in traffic accidents. That same year, 16,929 people were murdered. Suicide is also the seventh leading cause of death for men, the 15th for women, and the third for teens and young adults 15 to 24.

Over the past few years, researchers have noticed a disturbing trend: suicide rates for middle-aged people are edging up. "Men have long had higher rates of suicide than women, and whites in the United States are more likely to kill themselves than are African, Hispanic, or Asian Americans," according to an article on the Good Men Project website. "But it’s only in recent years that the middle-aged have overtaken older people as the ones most likely to die by suicide. In 2007 (the latest year for which statistics are available), people aged forty-five to fifty-four had the highest suicide rate of any age group: 17.7 per 100,000.

It's not yet known what was going on in the life of Michael Spence that prompted him to take that final leap. The National Institute of Mental Health says risk factors for suicide include depression and other mental disorders, and substance abuse (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors. Other risk factors include a family history of suicide, mental illness, violence, or physical or sexual abuse.

The Walnut Creek-based Contra Costa Crisis Center, which runs the 24-hour crisis lines for the county, said there is no typical suicide victim. "Suicide transcends all ages beginning with adolescence, all ethnicities and cultures, all socio-economic groups, and all religions, as well as gender, sexual orientation, and ablebodiness.:

The center says there are some common warning signs. They include:

• Talking about suicide or making statements revealing a desire to die.
• Drastic changes in behavior (withdrawal, apathy, moodiness).
• Losing interest in hobbies and in personal appearance.
• Depression (crying, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, hopelessness)
• Worsening academic or job performance and sudden failure to complete assignments.
• Lack of interest in activities and surroundings (dropping out of sports and clubs).
• Settling affairs (giving away prized possessions such as books or a CD collection).
• Increased moodiness, irritability, or aggressiveness.
• Remarks suggesting profound unhappiness, despair, or feelings of worthlessness.
• Death and suicidal themes in written work.
• Self-destructive behavior (taking unnecessary risks or increased drug or alcohol use).

If you are in a life-threatening situation, call 911. If you're in crisis, call 800-273-TALK (8255) to reach the nearest, nationally-certified crisis center. Residents of Contra Costa County can also reach the crisis line by calling 800-833-2900.