{"id":827,"date":"2020-09-22T16:54:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T20:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/?p=827"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:59:19","slug":"your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#8217;t Making You Sick. Here&#8217;s Why."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">July 2020 &#8211; M<\/span>ore than 30 million Americans are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the\u00a0University of Virginia School of Medicine\u00a0explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders.<\/p>\n<div class=\"body-wrapper drop-cap\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even item-0\">\n<p>The UVA researchers found that the parasite,\u00a0<em>Toxoplasma gondii,<\/em>\u00a0is kept in check by brain defenders called microglia. These microglia release a unique immune molecule, IL-1a,\u00a0that recruits immune cells from the blood to control the parasite in the brain, the scientists discovered. This process works so well that very few people develop symptomatic toxoplasmosis, the disease the parasite causes.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the role of microglia is essential because they are normally the only immune cells inside the brain. The new finding reveals how they recruit help when needed, and that discovery could apply to any brain condition with an immunological component \u2013 including brain injury, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis and more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\">\n<div id=\"file-90636\" class=\"file file-image file-image-jpeg\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<p><span class=\"caption none media-element file-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Researcher Tajie Harris is looking to apply the lessons learned in the Toxoplama study to other brain diseases, including Alzheimer\u2019s. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)\" src=\"https:\/\/news.virginia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/tajie_harris_ss_inline_1.jpg\" alt=\"Tajie Harris\" width=\"402\" height=\"268\" data-delta=\"1\" \/><\/span>Researcher Tajie Harris is looking to apply the lessons learned in the Toxoplama study to other brain diseases, including Alzheimer\u2019s. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMicroglia must die to save the brain from this infection,\u201d said researcher Tajie Harris of UVA\u2019s Department of Neuroscience and the interim director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, or BIG. \u201cOtherwise the IL-1a\u00a0remains stuck inside the microglia and wouldn\u2019t alert the immune system that something is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Brain and the Immune System<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>UVA\u2019s Department of Neuroscience and the BIG center have in recent years completely rewritten our understanding of the brain\u2019s relationship with the body\u2019s immune system. For decades, textbooks taught that the brain was disconnected from the immune system. UVA research, however, showed that was not the case, to the shock of the scientific community. Many researchers are now exploring the implications of that major discovery.<\/p>\n<p>One area of focus is microglia and their role in defending the brain. This has been a difficult question to answer because microglia are closely related to other immune cells elsewhere in the body. Until recently, laboratory tools made to target microglia have also targeted these other cells, making it hard to distinguish between the two.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default media-float-left\">\n<div id=\"file-90641\" class=\"file file-image file-image-jpeg\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<p><span class=\"caption left media-element file-default body-image-left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Grad student Samantha Batista came up with an elegant way to differentiate microglia from other immune cells. (Contributed photo)\" src=\"https:\/\/news.virginia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/samantha_batista_inline_2_align_left.jpg\" alt=\"Sam Batista\" width=\"138\" height=\"207\" data-delta=\"2\" \/><\/span>Grad student Samantha Batista came up with an elegant way to differentiate microglia from other immune cells. (Contributed photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>UVA researcher Samantha J. Batista, a graduate student in Harris\u2019 lab, used an elegant approach that leveraged the long-lived nature of microglia to understand their role in brain infection. She and her colleagues found that infection caused microglia to die in an inflammatory fashion \u2013 a way that the closely related immune cells do not.<\/p>\n<p>The microglia burst, the researchers determined, to recruit immune cells called macrophages to control the\u00a0<em>Toxoplasma gondii\u00a0<\/em>infection. This finding helps explain why most people have no trouble controlling the parasite, while some \u2013 especially people who are immunocompromised \u2013 can become very sick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnderstanding pathways like this could be beneficial for other diseases involving neuroinflammation,\u201d Batista said. \u201cWe can ask whether promoting this pathway is helpful in situations where you need more of an immune presence in the brain, such as infections or cancers, and also whether inhibiting this molecule could be helpful in diseases driven by too much neuroinflammation, like multiple sclerosis. Targeting one specific pathway like this one could have less off-target effects than targeting inflammation more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the future, Harris, Batista and their collaborators are interested in understanding how microglia detect the parasites in the brain. Microglia could recognize the parasite\u2019s presence directly, or they could recognize damage to brain tissue, a phenomenon that occurs in many diseases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe immune system must enter the brain to fight dangerous infections,\u201d said Harris, who is part of UVA\u2019s Carter Immunology Center. \u201cWe now understand how microglia sound the alarm to protect the brain. We suspect that similar signals are missed or misinterpreted in Alzheimer\u2019s disease, opening up an exciting new research avenue in the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-subscribe\">\n<div class=\"inline-subscribe-border\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><strong>Findings Published<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The researchers have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-020-17491-z\">published their findings in the scientific journal Nature Communications<\/a>. The research team consisted of Batista, Katherine M. Still, David Johanson, Jeremy A. Thompson, Carleigh A. O\u2019Brien, John R. Lukens and Harris.<\/p>\n<p><em>The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01NS091067, R56NS106028, R01NS112516, R01NS106383, T32AI007046, T32GM008328 and T32AI007496; a Carter Immunology Center Collaborative Research Grant; Alzheimer\u2019s Association grant AARG-18-566113; the Owens Family Foundation; and a University of Virginia Research &amp; Development Award.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was co-written by Katherine Still, a member of the research team and a health and sciences writer with UVA\u2019s Cavalier Daily student newspaper.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net\/ls\/click?upn=mpkt3et7aBhE1y7FXZskzn2JttnlazYx5vlSi3gtfIrav5tL4VFcswQkuMiJ8TN01gti_MY5WBNMlxw0rvQo-2BnSL-2FYGlP9-2B58bYW-2FQVZcnFvFR2gT2MddwlspIqkrxQ1zrdIxtg-2BJia1SFg-2FKo9I8BssEfeMw7iorR7hwgB1V3G8r7CyMGswO0Ja-2FEF4N2eew1PqFZEjc7EDh8YY2RCOi1wLLBwgP2mnNaJDo8WMHCY5Hrw7rL2oj-2BfbfRmUeAqjM-2BOaHJ3cPkv3BveIdFmaAr3z47rEz9WYIlS5RYESZPedjcC8whoEapNIpSoKDQB9eCY-2BquRB-2FwsLtgwZ05l-2B9PV3HU-2Fn8Nvsj-2F3xG13zXa-2FpcgsCRwCepVJP-2F5Q-2FKVS6bKj1SXLkN6Jpn6Eu28r1AVf9K7RLjt1OU4AAXX8CgpyCh-2BoA-3D\"><strong><em><u>Making of Medicine<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<em>blog.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"media-contacts\">\n<div class=\"media-contacts-inner\">\n<div class=\"contact\">\n<p class=\"name\">By Josh Barney, <span class=\"email\"><a href=\"mailto:jdb9a@virginia.edu\">jdb9a@virginia.edu,<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"phone\">434-906-8864<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 2020 &#8211; More than 30 million Americans are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the\u00a0University of Virginia School of Medicine\u00a0explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders. The UVA researchers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1546,"featured_media":856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-intranet"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Your Brain Parasite Isn&#039;t Making You Sick. Here&#039;s Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#039;t Making You Sick. Here&#039;s Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 2020 &#8211; More than 30 million Americans are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the\u00a0University of Virginia School of Medicine\u00a0explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders. The UVA researchers [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ws5z@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ws5z@virginia.edu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ws5z@virginia.edu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925\"},\"headline\":\"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#8217;t Making You Sick. Here&#8217;s Why.\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":823,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/197\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Sam-Batista.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Intranet\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/\",\"name\":\"Your Brain Parasite Isn't Making You Sick. Here's Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/197\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Sam-Batista.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/197\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Sam-Batista.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/197\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/Sam-Batista.jpeg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Sam Batista\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/22\\\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#8217;t Making You Sick. Here&#8217;s Why.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/\",\"name\":\"Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)\",\"description\":\"University of Virginia School of Medicine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925\",\"name\":\"ws5z@virginia.edu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ws5z@virginia.edu\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/big\\\/author\\\/ws5zvirginia-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Your Brain Parasite Isn't Making You Sick. Here's Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Your Brain Parasite Isn't Making You Sick. Here's Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)","og_description":"July 2020 &#8211; More than 30 million Americans are infected with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the\u00a0University of Virginia School of Medicine\u00a0explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders. The UVA researchers [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/","og_site_name":"Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)","article_published_time":"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ws5z@virginia.edu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ws5z@virginia.edu","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/"},"author":{"name":"ws5z@virginia.edu","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/#\/schema\/person\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925"},"headline":"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#8217;t Making You Sick. Here&#8217;s Why.","datePublished":"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/"},"wordCount":823,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg","keywords":["Intranet"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/","name":"Your Brain Parasite Isn't Making You Sick. Here's Why. - Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg","datePublished":"2020-09-22T20:54:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-22T20:59:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/#\/schema\/person\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2020\/09\/Sam-Batista.jpeg","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Sam Batista"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/2020\/09\/22\/your-brain-parasite-isnt-making-you-sick-heres-why\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Your Brain Parasite Isn&#8217;t Making You Sick. Here&#8217;s Why."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/#website","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/","name":"Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)","description":"University of Virginia School of Medicine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/#\/schema\/person\/a1ab487e797817bbc27215cc563fb925","name":"ws5z@virginia.edu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73feb0e79ce8b0ea29a542e258a7f8b55c55c9ff9f593bc819692702ae7c9f19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ws5z@virginia.edu"},"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/author\/ws5zvirginia-edu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/big\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}