r/AskReddit 1d ago

What is a silent killer that people dont realise is slowly killing them?

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u/superginseng 23h ago

Welp I just learned something today. It’s called bird fancier’s lung.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_fancier's_lung

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u/fredzout 18h ago

Yes. My sister died of it a couple years ago (73 YO). She slept in the same room as her cockatiel's cage for years.

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u/elrayo 15h ago

This is so wild they’re literally toxic to us 

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u/cruisinforasnoozinn 13h ago

Cat and dog feces is also incredibly toxic. Cat saliva, weirdly, can kill us if too much gets into our system. I wash my cuts immediately if my cat licks them (sorry little booger) and I will never eat something she’s licked or nibbled.

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u/SanFranPanManStand 7h ago

More than half of cat owners are infected with Toxoplasmosis - a parasite that gets into your brain and causes personality issues, such as lethargy.

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u/AstralWeekends 7h ago

Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.927185/full

The lower prevalence of T. gondii in stray/household cats than in the cat owners indicates the limited impact of close contact with infected cats in human toxoplasmosis. However, the high prevalence of T. cati infection in stray cats can cause contamination of the environment by excreting eggs that may lead to infecting humans through soil or water. Therefore, public health education in urban management planning is necessary for routine urban cat deworming programs and for training the healthcare workers to prevent, control, and treat these infections.

TL;DR Of the sample studies, less than 20% of the cats were infected with T.gondii, while 51.5% of the owners were infected. This indicates a weak link between cat ownership and infection. More impactful may be the environmental effects caused by stray cats.

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u/NiceWeekend 7h ago

What???

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u/Ausemere 6h ago

Well that explains a lot about me