If a cat is heavily infested with ticks, the parasites can drink enough blood to cause anemia (severe blood loss). Additionally, if your cat brings ticks into the house, your family members could be exposed to Lyme disease and other diseases that ticks can transmit if they bite people. Ticks can transmit a disease called cytauxzoonosis (pronounced sight-oh-zo-uh-nosis) to cats. 1  This disease causes serious illness and even death in infected cats. Cytauxzoonosis is actually caused by two parasites.
Genetic changes in human populations occur too slowly to be responsible for the obesity epidemic. Nevertheless, the variation in how people respond to the environment that promotes physical inactivity and intake of high-calorie foods suggests that genes do play a role in the development of obesity.
The effects of obesity include medical co-morbidities, the psychological effects, the social effects and the effects on society as a whole. Genetic, environmental and other factors interact to influence body weight in a complex way.