Critical Focus | When the Microbes Take Command
THE MICROSCOPE
2019, Volume 67:1, pp. 75–81
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/TDNV3435
AUTHOR
Brian J. Ford
EXCERPT
We like to think that we are in control of ourselves. Free will is our ultimate personal propensity. Apart from the boss, our spouse, or perhaps your willful offspring, we do not tolerate outside influences challenging our freedom to act as we wish. Yet there is a hidden force at work that regulates our mood and can take control over what we do. Turn to the microscope to find the answer — often it is the microbes who are secretly controlling you. Some can change your personality. It may be that conditions as disparate as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive- compulsive disorder are related to a protozoan parasite named Toxoplasma gondii; even dementia may have a connection with this microbe. Most remarkable of all, it may even be influencing your life choices.