TIGblogs - Mukesh Mishra

Just a trivia, but I want to share the knowledge.
I was reading somewhere that the little, invisible bacteria and viruses decide how we act and react when we are sick.

Ever thought why we sneeze when we have a cold? Or why we are so weak and immobile when we have malaria?

I read this in a book somewhere that the way the common cold virus propagates or spreads is via air. This is the reason that we are restless and feel like being in crowded places… so that when we are there and sneeze, the virus can find new hosts! Smart, huh?
On the contrary, malaria makes us completely bed ridden. Weak and helpless, we lie on our beds… so that he mosquitoes (the carrier of the disease) can suck our blood and carry the infection to the next healthy person! Smart again, huh?

Some of the viruses / bacteria are so smart that they actually make their hosts behave in a certain way. Let take an example from the animal kingdom.
A certain worm lives in the intestines of sheep. And how do they infect other sheep? Now this is very interesting… read carefully.
The eggs of the worm are passed along with the excreta of the infected sheep. This is eaten by snails, who in turn fail to digest the eggs and excrete them again. Now how do we go from snail sheep?
The excreta of the snail are eaten by ants. The eggs/ larva inside the ant make it act weird. The ant, in the middle of the night, comes out of its burrow and walks out in the open filed. It finds itself a green blade of grass, climbs the top and from the tip it hangs upside down on the underside. This enables them to be eaten by grazing sheep and passing on the egg to its intestines. If the ant is not eaten, it goes back to its community and tries the suicide trick again and again till it gets eaten. The egg of the worm controls the mind of the ant and causes it to exhibit certain behavior that ensures the propagation of its species.

This set me thinking that do we act in a certain way because our mind too is hijacked by an invader?? Are some actions or behaviors the result on such external guests?

Guess will have to wait and watch till science finds facts.

Thoughts invited…