Being a carrier of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite would make you more attractive and healthier than the rest of the population.
- 30 to 50% of the world’s population are carriers of the toxoplasma gondii parasite.
- This parasite can infect all mammals and even humans.
So far, the parasite toxoplasma gondii was known to modify the behavior of the mammals it affected… In rats for example, it would reverse disgust and attraction to the smell of cats. Thus, rats would be less frightened by felines, would be less wary of them and would therefore be more likely to be attacked.
Assess the self-perceived attractiveness of infected people
A new study published in the scientific journal Peer J has just discovered a virtue in this parasite: it would make humans more beautiful and healthier.
To achieve this result, the researchers first assessed the self-perceived attractiveness of people carrying the parasite. In other words, the image they had of themselves. Thus, among the participants, 35 were carriers of the parasite and 178 were not. Result: those infected with the toxoplasma gondii found themselves more attractive than others.
Women carrying the parasite had more sexual partners
During this experiment, the scientists also analyzed criteria such as the body mass index (BMI), facial asymmetry, the number of sexual partners, the number of minor ailments, or the face width/height ratio, i.e. facial asymmetry.
Thus, women with the parasite, for example, had a lower BMI – therefore were thinner – and had had sex with more men than others. On the other hand, they also had a weaker fluctuating asymmetry of the face, that is, which came closest to the symmetry which, according to the authors, is one of the signs of good health in a individual.
No treatment against the parasite
“A possible explanation for our results is that highly symmetrical people can afford to bear the physiological costs associated with the parasite.“, explain the scientists. One of their hypotheses is that the toxoplasma gondii would also be able to increase the metabolic rate to influence the perception that infected people have of their health and their attractiveness. “Either way, the phenotypic changes seen in Toxoplasma-infected subjects may represent transmission-related advantages for the parasite, as T. gondii can be sexually transmitted.”, say the researchers.
Currently, when a person is infected with the virus, he remains a carrier of the bacteria all his life because there is no treatment to eliminate it.
