CAT LITTER BOXES LINKED TO SCHIZOPHRENIA

CAT LITTER BOXES LINKED TO SCHIZOPHRENIA

BALTIMORE (Wireless Flash) -- Researchers say cleaning a cat's litter box could increase your chances of developing schizophrenia. It seems many house cats carry a parasite known as "toxoplasma gondii," which has been linked to brain lesions and could also trigger schizophrenia. Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey says schizophrenia was a rare mental disorder until the late 1800s, when cats became popular indoor pets. The new studies suggest 51 percent of schizophrenics grew up in homes with cats and Torrey suspects the disease may be contracted by handling or breathing fumes from cat feces. Torrey discusses the schizophrenia-cat link in the latest issue of "Lingua Franca" magazine.