Missoula, Rapid City at risk to deadly parasites in dog, cat poop

New Zealand is considering banning cats and not just because they are killing endangered birds.

Science Daily brought two stories of how microbes carried by domesticated animals are altering the human gene pool. On dogs:

Rodolfo Villarreal, Juan Palacios, Keith Parker and Lilian Calderon carried out the study, "Gene inflammatory expression profiling in right versus left ventricles in young urbanites: What is the long-term impact of myocardial inflammation in the setting of air pollution?" The researchers are from the University of Montana (Palacios, Parker, Calderon), the Instituto Nacional de Pediatria in Mexico City (Calderon) and the Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana (Villarreal).

Missoula and Rapid City have long histories of wood-burning stoves and air stagnation alerts.

Here is the really creepy part: these toxins are crossing the blood/brain barrier allowing bacteria from mice and dog feces to infect the hearts and brains of children in Mexico City. Higher dog concentrations led to increased rates of infection. The researchers concluded that:

•polluted air can create inflammation, even in the hearts of young individuals
•the right ventricle responds differently than the left
•endotoxins play a role in the inflammation

On cats, Science Daily says:

A number of studies also confirm that mental diseases like schizophrenia, depression and anxiety syndrome are more common in people with toxoplasmosis, while others suggest that toxoplasmosis can influence how extroverted, aggressive or risk-inclined an individual's behaviour is.