A member of the First Church of the Last Laugh blows a horn while marching in the 30th Annual St. Stupid's Day Parade down the streets of the financial district in San Francisco, California, April 1, 2008.
A member of the First Church of the Last Laugh blows a horn while marching in the 30th Annual St. Stupid's Day Parade down the streets of the financial district in San Francisco, California, April 1, 2008. The parade occurs every year on April Fools' Day and pokes fun at the political and financial events in the United States. REUTERS/Kimberly White

There is a current belief that scientists have discovered a "stupidity virus," but this conclusion is dumb, according to Forbes. A few days ago, scientists from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Nebraska found a virus that seems to impact behaviour and thinking.

But if they have been smart enough to discover the virus, parts of the media seem to have been dumb enough to report it as the discovery of a "stupidity virus." The virus was spotted in the throat cultures of healthy subjects in an experiment that was not meant to assess how dumb they were.Still, the 44 percent, who seemed to be hosting the virus, showed that they were 7 to 9 points lower on tests that measured their attention span. The test also checked how quickly and accurately people could assess whatever they saw and noted.

The study was a striking example that showed that the 'innocuous' microorganisms we host can affect the way we behave and think, according to the lead investigator, Dr. Robert Yolken. He is a virologist and pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, according to abcnews.

The Nebraska scientists injected the virus ATCV-1 into the digestive systems of mice, which just spurred them on to muddle around in mazes, bewildered by new toys everywhere and indifferent to new ways of coming in and out of their cages. They seemed to be a bit on the slower side, as compared to other mice.

ATCV-1 is usually found to infect a species of green algae in lakes and rivers and has not been seen infecting humans. However, when Yolken's team assessed 92 healthy volunteers, who were contributing to the study on cognitive function, the virus was discovered in 43.5% of them, according to Newsweek.com.

The studies show that brains are not creations only of our parents. Trillions of viruses, bacteria and fungi have invaded our bodies. They are infections that plunder our cells and replicate themselves inside them, according to Dr. Aaron E. Glatt, a spokesman for the Infectious Disease Society of America. If they enter our cells, they can be harmless, or they can be deadly, as the Ebola knock shows.

Maybe they affect our thinking and intelligence. Or maybe they don't. Either way, it is important to keep an open mind about everything, said Glatt. The virus may be responsible for affecting some areas of our memory and impacting other higher brain functions. Moreover, viruses also may mess with our intelligence in various ways. For instance, in some earlier research experiments, his team detected that there were some tiny but clear declines in thinking when there was exposure to the normal herpes simplex virus. The new research has been featured in the latest issue of the online journal, "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science."