Cat Lady Suicide More Likely Due To Risk Of Having Toxoplasmosis, Researchers Say

Cat Lady Suicide

A cat lady is more prone to attempting suicide as she can be exposed to a common parasite that can be caught from cat litter, a new study has found.

Researchers found that women infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that is spread through contact with cat feces or eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables, have an increased risk of committing suicide.

University of Maryland School of Medicine psychiatrist and suicide neuroimmunology expert Dr. Teodor T. Postolache, the senior author of the study, said that it is not yet certain if the parasite causes women or cat ladies to kill themselves but he said they found "a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that warrants additional studies."

"We plan to continue our research into this possible connection," he added.

Women infected with T. gondii were one and a half times more likely to attempt suicide compared to those who were not infected, and the risk seemed to rise with increasing levels of the T. gondii antibodies, the study says.

The study involved 45,000 women in Denmark and was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry earlier this week. It is the largest study of T. gondii and attempted suicide and the first prospective study to document suicide attempts that occurred after the infection was discovered.

The infection, which is called toxoplasmosis, has been linked to mental illness, such as schizophrenia, and changes in behavior. About one-third of the world’s population is infected with the parasite, which hides in cells in the brain and muscles, often without producing symptoms.

"T. gondii infection is a major public health problem around the world, and many people don’t realize." said Dr. Albert Reece, vice president of medical affairs at the university. "Suicide is a critically important mental health issue. About 1 million people commit suicide and another 10 million attempt suicide worldwide each year. We hope that this type of research will one day help us find ways to save many lives that now end prematurely in suicide."

Dr. Postolache’s research team at the University of Maryland was the first to report a connection between T. gondii and suicidal behavior in 2009. He is collaborating with researchers in Denmark, Germany and Sweden to confirm and investigate the mechanism leading to this association.

Dr. Postolache noted limitations to the study, such as the inability to determine the cause of the suicidal behavior.