Can the cat pose serious health risks, especially for the elderly? Yes, according to numerous articles that are reporting data presented by a new study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. The fault would be of Toxoplasma gondii, a species of parasitic protist that also lives in cats and other warm-blooded animals and can cause toxoplasmosis in humans, accused, in fact, of causing severe memory loss in subjects over the age of 65. years.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Can the cat pose serious health risks, especially for the elderly? Yes, according to i numerous articles who are reporting data presented by a new study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. The fault would be of the Toxoplasma gondii, a species of parasitic protist that also lives in cats and other warm-blooded animals and can cause toxoplasmosis in humans, accused, in fact, of cause severe memory loss in people over the age of 65.
Research would reveal that significant short-term memory loss occurs in the infected elderly. The authors of the paper report that it is the first time that Toxoplasma Gondii is suspected of causing significant memory impairment. Here, then, comes the accusation against cats, which would thus endanger the health of our grandparents.
It is a pity, however, that toxoplasmosis can also be contracted after allintake of infected raw food of animal origin and contaminated and poorly washed vegetables. Contamination by zoonos, i.e. through the transmission of the disease from animals to humans, as we have explained several times, it is, on the other hand, a more unique than rare eventuality, as it provides for theingestion of the manure of an infected feline.
From a purely statistical point of view, therefore, for the elderly (as well as for pregnant women) it could be it is much more risky to eat a steak than to stroke your cat, precisely because the danger is more concrete. Before research of this type leads to unnecessary alarmism, therefore, it will be useful to remember that a cat can keep the elderly company company and help him to live better.
A very sweet and exciting test? It is provided by the Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara, who photographed there for nine years deep love story between his grandmother Misao and Fukumaru, the kitten with one blue and one brown eye that he adopted after finding him abandoned in a shed of his southerner. Misao and Fukumaru are now inseparable companions in life.
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Roberta Ragni
Foto Credit: Miyoko Ihara / Rex Features
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