Not entirely applicable to biking, but interesting and at least tangentially related.
Toxoplama Gondii is a parasitic protozoa and the third leading cause of death attributed to foodbourne illness in the
United States.
The normal lifecycle of Toxoplasma is that it's excreted by cats, eaten by rats and mice (as well as other mammals and birds) and then the infected rats and mice are eaten by the cats. The really interesting thing is that the parasite changes the behavior of rats and mice.
So what?
As noted above humans can get it too and in human populations it's known that changes human behavior as well, by mpairing reaction times in infected subjects,
Those who are RhD-positive (so O+ or A+ bloodtypes), especially RhD heterozygotes, are protected against latent toxoplasmosis-induced impairment of reaction times. But a recent study showed,
Presently only immunodeficient people and pregnant women get treatment for the disease, but it seems the auto insurance and health insurance companies could improve their bottom lines by encouraging testing and treatment of this parasite in all RhD-negative subjects. The rest of us would then be free riders on safer roads.
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