In one of the weirdest scientific stories of the year, scientists are puzzling over the mysterious connection between common domestic cats and a toxic parasite infecting Beluga whales in the western Arctic. Photo: Ke Hu & John Murray BBC News reports the organism Toxoplasma gondii (pictured above), which is dangerous to cats as well as humans, has somehow spread to the whales, which are frequently hunted for their meat by Inuit tribes in British Columbia. Authorities in the area have issued a health advisory alerting locals to the dangers of eating the contaminated whale meat, which can cause the parasite to deposit egg-like structures in the human body. Infection can lead to blindness in more extreme cases. Photo: National Geographic Experts at the University of British Columbia theorize that increasing Arctic temperatures have enabled biological pathogens to thrive in the region, when in the past extreme cold prevented such organisms from spreading.
- 2/18/2014
- by Gregory Burkart
- FEARnet
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