Cat Owners More Likely to Commit Suicide - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.

We’ve all heard of the stereotype of the crazy old woman who owns a bunch of cats. But this stereotype may have a scientific explanation. According to a study done in Denmark by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a certain parasite found in cat feces can lead to schizophrenia and suicidal tendencies if it is transferred to humans. Almost a third of the earth’s population is host to Toxoplasma gondii, which can be spread by consuming unwashed food, raw or undercooked meat, drinking contaminated water, or changing the litter box of an infected kitty.

The researchers tested the babies of Danish women for the parasite, which they could have only acquired from their mother, to determine which women had the parasite in their bodies, and then kept track of the test subjects to see how many of them committed suicide. The results show that women who were host to the parasite were one and a half times more likely to commit suicide than women who were not infected.

What your thoughts on the results from this study?