And if the business sense was related to a parasite present in the body?

Success in business, daring and risk appetite may be related to the presence of the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis in the body, suggests a study published Wednesday in British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The name of the culprit? The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii a parasite propagating mainly through the consumption of meat insufficiently cooked or water having been in contact with soil contaminated with cat excrements.

Affecting more than two billion people, this parasite could have the faculty, through the hormonal and neurological changes inherent to its presence in the body, to amplify " impulsiveness ", " ambition " and " the search for material goods ", " characteristics badociated with ] entrepreneurial activity ", explains the study, conducted by researchers from English universities (Leeds), American (Boulder), German (Frankfurt), Spanish (Bilbao), Norwegian (Bodo) and Hong Kong. [19659006] Analyzing the results of salivary tests conducted on nearly 1,500 stu Americans, researchers found that protozoan carriers were "1.7 times" more inclined to show an interest in entrepreneurship and management.

Other tests conducted with professionals attending meetings related to Business world has shown that people who are positive for Toxoplasma gondii are more likely to have started their own business.

In synthesizing data from 42 countries, researchers also found that prevalence of infection was an indicator of " activity and entrepreneurial intentions ". The " fear of failure " also seems weakest where the parasite is most present, they say.

These results highlight a "link between parasitic infection and complex human behavior, including (…) entrepreneurship and economic productivity. "

The researchers point out that other studies have previously put forward the ability of the parasite to modify the behavior of non-human hosts to be able to reproduce more easily.

The Toxoplasma gondii infects in effect of many species but can only reproduce in felines and thus cause its hosts to adopt risky behaviors, for example by making the chimpanzee attractive to the smell of the leopard's urine, their natural predator, a hypothesis explored in 2016 by researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)