CATS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA/ this is so stupid

[RENAISSANCE RN]

OMG!!! I am really PO'd about this article. IT was on ABC 20/20. I dont agree at all. The public is so uneducated, they may starting putting cats to sleep over this. Toxo has been around a long time. I did some reseach on this Psychiatric MD. I think he is a quack... Please nurses out there spread the word to people that this is just one man's opinion.

I think I am mad because I love cats..... What do you guys think... thank god for Timothy Johnson. I READ this Dr has stolen brains for science.

Terri:angryfire

Nov. 10, 2005-- Can your cat make you crazy?

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, president of the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., has been studying whether a parasite found in cat droppings called Toxoplasma gondii can trigger an onset of schizophrenia later in life.

"Most people have not thought of schizophrenia as being caused by a virus or bacteria or a parasite," Torrey said. "This is a relatively new idea."

It's long been established that the parasites found in cat droppings are a health risk to pregnant women and young children, but whether the cat can be directly linked to schizophrenia remains to be seen.

Torrey's study found a 53 percent increase in risk for schizophrenia if you owned a cat during childhood, but he also found a 51 percent increase in risk if you were breastfed. Statisticians believe the increase in risk has to be above 200 percent for there to be an actual association between something like owning a cat and schizophrenia.

"We haven't proven anything," Torrey said. "Infectious agents, virus, etcetera really need to be looked at very carefully in these cases."

In the meantime, Torrey is still cautious of cats.

"Personally I would not buy a kitten for a small child," he said. "I don't think we know enough to be able to say there's no risk."

ABC medical contributor Dr. Tim Johnson said he is skeptical of the study, but said there are diseases people can get from cats, the most serious being toxoplasmosis. Johnson said millions of people are affected with this parasite, but their immune system fights it off.

Johnson added, however, that pregnant women, women who are about to become pregnant and people with weakened immune systems, including those who are undergoing chemo or have AIDS, should avoid cats and cat litter.

[babynurselsa, RN]

The people at 20/20 ought to be beat for throwing a story out there like this. Show me REAL, FACTUAL DATA before a prime time "news" show starts ridiculious THEORIES like this. AND WTH breastfeeding may cause it also?!?!?!

So can he go back a few hundred years and compile some statistics about the rates of persons with schizophrenia when EVERYONE was breastfed!?!?!?!

Wonder if he developed these hypothesis during a psychedelic moment....

[SarasotaRN2b]

Some people have nothing better to do than create a panic...I think they just look for something to stir things up. I blame it as much on the media as I do on these quacks.

Not to say that cats at times won't drive you crazy...mine do, but it's a temporary situation.

[Catsmeow]

I found that entire segment to be incredibly irresponsible reporting. There was no balance of information whatsoever, just a scare tactic report. It makes me angry too. :angryfire Right after I heard it I told my MIL it must be an incredibly slow news day if they are putting on stuff like that.

[psalm, RN]

...Hissss, Spitttttt, MEOW!!!!

...says my feline Goldie Mae, so there!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Wonder what that doctor was smoking when he came up with THIS theory???

This is utterly irresponsible journalism.......no, not journalism, sensationalism. Shame on ABC and on 20/20 for showing such garbage to a gullible public. :angryfire

[sunnyjohn]

What the....????

Poor kitties getting blamed and they have no proof.

In the same vein, I was watching the local Chicago ABC affiliate last night, During the early news they had a piece on a "SUPERBUG", MRSA. A little boy fell and scrapped his knee and is now in a coma at Comer Children's Hospital because he got an MRSA infection. His mom took him to quite a few docs before they finally found the problem. They think he caught it on the street in the open wound

Yeah, I know MRSA is a huge problem in the community and in Chicago, but there was no mention of the over-use and abuse of antibiotics. Not a peep! The reporter and the infectious disease MD just kept telling folks to wash their hands (a good thing) and make sure they advocate and insist that their doctor checks for MRSA.

I was peeved at the end of the segment because it was so one-sided and irresponsible.

[nurseroofe]

This is wild! You know some people will come up with anything to get their names in print or in the mass media; & some mass media will pick up anything because they have nothing better to deliver to the public. I hope people wont get scared and start to abandon there cats.:uhoh21:

[pattyjo, MSN, RN]

As odd as this sounds, it isn't something that just popped up. I remember sending an article about this to my son several years ago. Couldn't find that one, but here's a link to medscape, an article from a few years ago. This one was also referenced on CDC website. (You may have to register for medscape, but it's free and a good site to have anyway.)

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/463678

Patty

[Stitchie]

Don't we have to wait for "Dr. Tom Cruise" to weigh in on this one? After all, he's the leading authority on psychiatric problems:chuckle

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

It's hilarious because the spanish channel just had an article of the same thing. As a result, many shelters will more than likely be flooded.

I was so mad when I read this too!

[sunnyjohn]

Well I think MY CAT thinks I am making HER crazy. She gives me that "YOU ARE A FRUITCAKE" pity look all the time. Especially when I laugh out loud at the computer.