Cuddling with a cat or kitten might seem therapeutic, but a new study suggests contact with these animals could have adverse mental health effects down the road.

Research published in Schizophrenia Bulletin found that people who are exposed to cats may have more than double the chances of developing schizophrenia and other similar mental disorders later in life.

Australian researchers from the University of Queensland conducted a systematic review of 17 studies performed in 11 countries between Jan. 1, 1980, and May 30, 2023.

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The study data was pulled from several databases, including Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science and other publications.

All the studies focused on participants who owned cats in their first 25 years of life and experienced schizophrenia-related outcomes, according to the researchers.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects a person’s thoughts, behaviors and feelings, as defined by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Psychotic symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and thought disorders. 

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Those with the disorder may also experience cognitive challenges, loss of motivation, withdrawal from social activities, difficulty showing emotions and an overall lack of functioning.

“Based on past studies, there is evidence linking cat ownership and an increased risk of subsequent schizophrenia,” study author Dr. John McGrath, a psychiatrist at Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, told Fox News Digital.

“We had an open mind, and we reported the published findings.”

Research published in Schizophrenia Bulletin found that people who own cats may have more than double the chance of developing schizophrenia and other similar mental disorders later in life. (iStock)

Previous research linking cat exposure to schizophrenia risk has focused on Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a parasite that can cause a feline disease called toxoplasmosis.

Separate studies have identified a “modest to large association” between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia.

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The study did have some limitations, McGrath acknowledged.

“While observational epidemiology cannot prove this link, this topic warrants further, more detailed research,” he said.

“I was disappointed that there were not more highly quality — i.e., more rigorous — studies in our review.”

“Schizophrenia is an incredibly complex disorder, and this study identifies one potential risk factor that needs to be understood in a broader context.”

Schizophrenia is a “poorly understood group of disorders,” McGrath noted.

“We need to invest in more research that looks at potential risk factors. There is much work to be done.”

‘No need to panic’

Dr. Zachary Ginder, a psychological consultant and doctor of clinical psychology at Pine Siskin Consulting, LLC in Riverside, California, was not involved in the study but commented on the findings.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects a person’s thoughts, behaviors and feelings. Psychotic symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions and thought disorders.  (iStock)

“It is important to keep a level head in consideration of these findings, and there is no need to panic if you own a cat and have children or are thinking about starting a family,” Ginder told Fox News Digital.

“Schizophrenia is an incredibly complex disorder, and this study identifies one potential risk factor that needs to be understood in a broader context. It would likely be premature to make strong recommendations about cat ownership solely based on these findings.”

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Although a relationship has been established between early-life cat exposure and schizophrenia, Ginder emphasized that this does not necessarily indicate that exposure causes the disorder. 

“A lot more research” is needed to better understand these relationships — “accounting for a myriad of potential confounding factors and exploring underlying biological mechanisms,” said one psychological consultant and doctor of clinical psychology. (iStock)

“There is a lot that we still don’t know, and it is important to highlight that not all people who are exposed to cats or infected with the parasite develop mental health issues, and not all people with schizophrenia have had cat exposure,” he told Fox News Digital.

“While this parasite may play a role, it’s likely part of a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors.” 

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Ginder echoed the researchers’ comments that “a lot more research” is needed to better understand these relationships — “accounting for a myriad of potential confounding factors and exploring underlying biological mechanisms.”

“These findings just give us another piece of an incredibly complex puzzle.”

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Congo is struggling to contain its biggest mpox outbreak, and scientists say a new form of the disease detected in a mining town might more easily spread among people.

Since January, Congo has reported more than 4,500 suspected mpox cases and nearly 300 deaths, numbers that have roughly tripled from the same period last year, according to the World Health Organization. Congo recently declared the outbreak across the country a health emergency.

An analysis of patients hospitalized between October and January in Kamituga, eastern Congo, suggests recent genetic mutations in mpox are the result of its continued transmission in humans; it’s happening in a town where people have little contact with the wild animals thought to naturally carry the disease.

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“We’re in a new phase of mpox,” said Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni, the lead researcher of the study, who said it will soon be submitted to a journal for publication. Mbala-Kingebeni heads a lab at Congo’s National Institute of Biomedical Research, which studies the genetics of diseases.

The lesions reported by most patients are milder and on the genitals, Mbala-Kingebeni said, making the disease trickier to diagnose. In previous outbreaks in Africa, lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet. He also said that the new form seems to have a lower death rate.

In a report on the global mpox situation this week, WHO said the new version of the disease might require a new testing strategy to pick up the mutations.

With experts pointing out that fewer than half of people in Congo with mpox are tested, Mbala-Kingebeni said: “The risk is that unless patients themselves come forward, we will have a silent transmission of the disease and nobody will know.”

Mbala-Kingebeni said most people were infected via sex, with about a third of mpox cases found in sex workers. It was not until the 2022 global emergency of mpox that scientists established the disease was spread via sex, with most cases in gay or bisexual men. In November, WHO confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in Congo for the first time.

There are two kinds, or clades, of mpox, which is related to smallpox and endemic to central and west Africa. Clade 1 is more severe and can kill up to 10% of people infected. Clade 2 triggered the 2022 outbreak; more than 99% of people infected survived.

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Mbala-Kingebeni and colleagues said they have identified a new form of clade 1 that may be responsible for more than 240 cases and at least three deaths in Kamituga, a region with a significant transient population traveling elsewhere in Africa and beyond.

Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University who is not connected to the research, said the new mutations are concerning.

“This suggests the virus is adapting to spread efficiently in humans and could cause some pretty consequential outbreaks,” she said.

Although the mpox epidemics in the West were contained with the help of vaccines and treatments, barely any have been available in Congo. Congo’s minister of health has authorized the use of vaccines in high-risk provinces, said Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee. He said officials are in talks with donor countries like Japan to help buy the shots.

“Once a sufficient quantity of vaccines is available … vaccination will be implemented as part of the response,” Kacita Osako said.

Dr. Dimie Ogoina, an mpox expert at Niger Delta University, said the new research is an unsettling reminder of an earlier — but different — outbreak.

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“The notable spread among sex workers is reminiscent of the early stages of HIV,” he said, explaining that prejudices attached to treating sexually transmitted infections and the reluctance of people with mpox to come forward were worrying.

WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, said last week that despite the ongoing spread of mpox in Africa and elsewhere, “there has not been a single donor dollar invested.”