Toxoplasma gondii infection not linked with aggression among prisoners

A new study revealed that Toxoplasma gondii infections are not associated with violent behaviors of prison inmates. The study results were published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

T. gondii is a protozoan parasite causing infections in humans and animals. It resides in latent form in the central nervous system and is associated with the incidence of specific neuropsychiatric conditions in humans like generalized anxiety disorder, mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. Literature shows that T.gondii infection may cause nonfatal suicidal self-directed violence, aggression, and impulsivity. As there is uncertainty on the incidence of T. gondii infection and violent behavior, researchers from Mexico conducted a study to evaluate the association between T. gondii seropositivity and violent behavior in a sample of inmates in the northern Mexican city of Durango. 

128 convicts (mean age: 35.89 10.51; range: 19-65 years) were evaluated in a cross-sectional research design. Participants' sera were tested for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The historical, clinical, and risk management-20 (HCR-20) tool, the kind of offense for which offenders were convicted, and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire were used to measure violence. (AGQ).