• Question: Can any bacteria or viruses alter how people think?

    Asked by to Bethany, Hannah, Keith, Peter, Ramya on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Peter Elliott

      Peter Elliott answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Whenever you get a serious infection you can become feverish and in a state of deep fever you can lose the ability to function like a normal person. In terms of changing how people think I can only think of one that comes close – sleeping sickness.

      When the disease enters the brain it causes the sufferer to become irritable, unable to speak and unable to eat so I suppose that is along the lines of what you are thinking.

      There are more severe cases if we look at nature as a whole. I’ll give just one example. In the rainforests of Brazil there are many different types of ants, but there is a pathogenic fungus that targets just one, the carpenter ant. When the ant becomes infected instead of performing its tasks within its colony it will wonder off into the jungle to find a warm and moist suitable for a fungus to grow. The ant will then attach itself to the underside of the leaf and stay there till death. A short time after this the fungus begins to grow out of the dead ants head and begins its life in a suitable environment, all thanks to its mind controlling abilities.

    • Photo: Hannah Tanner

      Hannah Tanner answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite (not a bacterium or a virus). Another parasite we know alters the way rodents think is Toxoplasma gondii. Infected rodents loose their fear of cats which means they are more likely to be eaten. This is an advantage to the parasite because part of it’s life cycle can only be carried out in cats.

Comments