Psychiatric aspects of toxoplasmosis: an Indian perspective

Toxoplasma gondii is one of the well-studied parasites because of its medical and veterinary importance, and its suitability as a model for cell biology and molecular studies. Latent toxoplasmosis in an immunocompetent host was considered benign until recently. The importance of this parasite has been steadily rising in the field of psychiatry and neurology as it has been implicated in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders. Researchers in India have unfortunately restricted themselves to finding the prevalence of toxoplasma antibodies in special populations and animals. On the other hand, there has been increasing research interest worldwide in T. gondii for its effects on human behaviour, manifestations of which range from psychoses and neuroses to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Toxoplasma infected organisms may be akin to living zombies. From changing the core natural defensive behaviour in mice to changing personality & leading to neuropsychiatric disorders in humans, Toxoplasma brings about subtle but significant & specific changes in its host. Surprisingly there is severe dearth of such studies from India even though prevalence rates of latent Toxoplasma infection are comparable, or in some regions, higher to those found elsewhere in the world. The potential for identifying Toxoplasma induced behavioural alterations is enormous in this part of the world which could have future treatment implications. It’s high time that we move beyond researching the obvious and involve ourselves in more rigorous, novel and stimulating studies in the future.