Can viruses control our behavior? You may already have asked yourself this question. It is true that the question as such seems to be taken from science fiction or a horror novel. However, science has discovered that viruses can indeed change our behavior.
They do not do it directly. Or at least they don’t do this, rejecting our will or making decisions for us. In fact, they make it a more subtle and quiet way. Because, if there is one thing that these infectious microscopic organisms want above all, is to survive. Propagate and enter complex ecosystems.
Thus, one of their strategies to achieve this goal is to change the behavior of the host they are logged into. Thus, they tend to spread further. Therefore, many of the symptoms we experience with the flu, diarrhea, or even the common cold are actually aimed at facilitating the spread of the disease among other healthy people.
For example, sneezing is not just a natural mechanism for removing these intruders from our body. It is also a tool used by the virus to transmit from one organism to another. And it works pretty well for them. However, there are even more interesting and disturbing facts about viruses.
How can viruses control our behavior?
The word "virus" in itself already scares us. Especially in the current context of the COVID-19 epidemic. As the saying goes, our worst enemies are often those that we do not see. Those that are visible only under a microscope and can weaken our health.
But what do these organisms look like? In fact, they are nothing more than fragments of genetic information wrapped in protein capsules.
Their only goal is to penetrate the cells of another organism in order to survive and multiply. They can infect humans, as well as animals, plants, fungi, and even bacteria.
Therefore, when you ask yourself how viruses can control our behavior, the first thing to recognize about them is that they are smarter than you think at first glance.
Viruses have no brains. However, virologists often call them very “smart” organisms. They know how to penetrate a cell, neutralize it and transform it so that it reproduces viral particles. In addition, they also change the behavior of the host. Now let's see how viruses can change our behavior.
Symptoms of the disease and how viruses spread
Let's look at a recent study to determine if viruses can effectively control our behavior. This is a study by Dr. Claudia Hagbon and Dr. Maria Istrate of the University of Linkoping in Sweden, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
This study focused on rotaviruses. These viruses cause a type of gastroenteritis that kills nearly 600,000 children worldwide every year. The most obvious symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. It has long been believed that vomiting is the protection of the body against disease.
Vomiting seemed to be a reaction caused by both the brain and the intestines to reject spoiled food, toxic foods, or any other harmful substances from the body.
In the case of vomiting, it is serotonin that activates the nervous system, so that the brain generates such a mechanism and, thus, can discard the harmful elements of the body.
However, the Swedish team of doctors found that it was rotavirus that controls the mechanisms of vomiting and diarrhea! He even does this for a very specific purpose. Spread viral particles outside the inhabited organism and thus infect others.
Behavioral Virology Science
Can viruses control our behavior? As we just saw, the answer is yes. They do this, and their strategy is to make the symptoms of the disease an external mechanism of infection in order to penetrate new hosts.
With their mechanism of survival and reproduction, they take control of certain behaviors. These include sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
However, the science of behavioral virology goes beyond that. Research at the Caroline Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, goes even further.
Some viruses can completely change our behavior. They can cause irritability, insomnia, hyperactivity and, thus, radically change a person’s behavior.
An example is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. One form of this pathology is known as mad cow disease. Patients suffer from progressive dementia, difficulty walking, anxiety, mood swings.
Another example is a case of Borne disease. This disease mainly affects horses. It was first described in 1766. However, this also affects some people. The disease produces clinical symptoms very similar to those of schizophrenia. Finally, rabies also beautifully illustrates how a virus can change an animal’s behavior.
Fortunately, science protects us from the effects of many of these viruses. As for others, that is, those from which we do not have a protective mechanism or a vaccine, the best protection strategy that we have is to wash our hands often and thoroughly with soap and observe the rules of hygiene.
