The Parasitology Unbound Collective: Commission Report

Abstract

The Parasitology Unbound Collective:Commission Report David Hollingshead (bio) OPENING REMARKS This interdisciplinary commission was formed to assess and respond to the sudden collapse of the Parasitology Unbound Collective, a research initiative supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in partnership with the National Health Association (NHA). The Collective was conceived as a comprehensive three-year program to study the effects of the common brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii on human behavior and psychology. However, the operation was forced to shut down less than two years into its projected timeline for reasons that are still under investigation. The following report was written in affiliation with the A/N/I/M/A/C/I/E/S/ROOM ("A Room for Sciences Studies in Action") at Alberta Regional University. It compiles a record of the events leading up to and including the incident at the Collective's primary testing facility in Beltsville, Maryland, on May 20, 2019, and the contemporaneous disappearance of lead researcher Charles Wilson along with seven (7) live cats infected with toxoplasmosis. This record contains primary documentation, beginning with Dr. Wilson's NHA grant application, and includes correspondences between NHA officials and Wilson, as well as excerpts from private journals and other miscellaneous [End Page 715] documents recovered from the Beltsville facility. In order to secure its publication in ASAP/Journal, the commission has taken the opportunity to provide relevant contextualizing documents, including discursive paratextual notes and additional secondary scholarship, when necessary. The paratextual notes were written by two ARU graduate students who were hired as summer researchers. ________ Dr. Charles V. Wilson Assistant Professor of Parasitology NHA Grant Application November 9th, 2016 Reassessing the behavioral effects of Toxoplasma gondii in humans through integrated "in-house" testing and a revised personality trait taxonomy Introduc on1 Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is one of the most common parasites on the planet. It is a "highly successful Apicomplexan protozoan capable of infecting any warm-blooded animal worldwide" (Khan & Grigg, 2017). Estimates suggest that nearly one-third of the world's human population is chronically infected (Dubey, 2010). Beyond its ubiquity, T. gondii is notable for its peculiar life cycle, which consists of three stages: a non-transmissible stage of rapid multiplication (tachyzoites); a transmissible, encysted stage of slow multiplication (bradyzoite); and a sexual stage that can only occur in the intestine of the feline species (Frenkel, 1973; Frenkel et al., 1970). In this last stage, the infected cat will shed T. gondii oocysts with its feces, which can then be reingested by another animal, thus beginning [End Page 716] the cycle again. T. gondii oocysts are extraordinarily hardy and can endure a wide range of "environmental, physical and chemical insults," including laboratory grade disinfectants and municipal water treatment (Fritz et al., 2012). In order for the parasite to successfully reproduce, its final (or "definitive") host must belong to the feline family. All other hosts, including humans, are designated "intermediate," meaning that they are reproductive "dead ends" for the parasite. Humans are most commonly infected with T. gondii through their contact with domestic cats, but meat contamination and exposure to oocysts through soil and water are also common vectors of infection. Seroprevalence rates in humans diverge widely from country to country, and studies suggest that region-specific differences in agricultural practices, foodways traditions, and cultures of pet-keeping may be determinative factors (Opsteegh et al., 2016; Scallan et al., 2011). For most of its known existence, Toxoplasma gondii and its associate disease, toxoplasmosis, were not considered serious public health risks.2 In humans, certain flu-like symptoms, as well as an increased chance of meningitis and encephalitis in the severely immunocompromised, had been noted upon infection. Serious physiological symptoms during the parasite's latent stage, however, were [End Page 717] believed nonexistent (Sugden et al., 2016). In the 1970s, researchers began to observe that rodents—one of the most common intermediate host-reservoirs of T. gondii—infected with the parasite exhibited significant behavioral changes that rendered them far more susceptible to feline predation. Most notably, the rats ceased to display their species' innate aversion to feline urine. Experiments conducted to test the effects of T. gondii on rats' perception of predation...