Toxoplasmosis

Reducing the chances of it affecting you – Does your child hug the cat close to her face like the child in this picture? Your vet will tell you that animals should not be near our face and we should wash our hands after petting them. There is good reason for this.
Toxoplasmosis is the third leading cause of death due to food illnesses in the USA. More that 60 million people carry the parasite and it is also spreading in Australia. Symptoms are few if you have a good immune system but if you are pregnant or have low immunity then watch out!

The illness is caused by a microscopic parasite from cats or farm animals that can live inside human cells. It can be caught at birth from the mother if she had it when she was pregnant, eating undercooked contaminated meat, eating unwashed fruits and veggies affected by manure or touching infected cat faeces. Cats can catch it from eating infected birds, mice or small animals.

Sometimes there are no symptoms if the person’s immunity is high. There are 3 categories – congenital is infection at birth, in healthy children or in children with weak immune systems. It can be diagnosed by a lab blood test for the parasite. Sometimes it can take weeks for it to show up or it can lie latent for life causing no harm. Often symptoms will go away on their own and pregnant women can go on a treatment plan to decrease the severity of the disease but this will not prevent transmission to the baby.

Congenital Toxoplasmosis occurs when a pregnant woman who may not have any symptoms catches it and it goes untreated then she passes it on to her unborn baby. If the baby is infected in the first 3 months of the mother’s pregnancy they seem to be sicker. However if the mother has it before she falls pregnant she most likely has some immunity to it and so does the unborn child. Sometimes it doesn’t appear in the children until years later. If you’re pregnant get someone else to clean the kitty litter and have them use detergent and hot water to do it. Alternatively you can wear gloves, keep your cat outside, keep the sandbox clean and covered, don’t feed cats raw meat, don’t pet stray cats or adopt a cat if you are pregnant.

Symptoms can be fever, swollen lymph nodes, jaundice, an enlarged head, rash, bruises, anemia and an enlarged liver. Sometimes in children it can cause seizures, problems with muscle tone, mental slowness, hearing loss, difficulty in feeding and eye damage. Quite often the eye damage does not come out until the child is a teenager. There is an antidote for children born with the illness and in older children where it can last up to 6 weeks.

In children that appear healthy they can only show swollen glands suddenly in the neck which are tender to touch, swell and increase systematically over time. However if the children have illnesses with weak immune systems they are at risk of severe infection. An example is in children with AIDS where it can attack the brain causing encephalitis characterised by fever, seizures, headache, speech and thought problems or psychosis. In children with weak immune systems it can be fatal and these children often end up in hospital on medication for life.

To help prevent Toxoplasmosis in your family always cook meat completely (not rare or medium), wash all fruits and vegetables well, wash your hands before handling food and wash all utensils and boards in the kitchen with soap and water. Other ways to prevent it is not to drink untreated water when travelling, watch out for bugs, flies and cockroaches and wear gloves when gardening. Remember your hygiene of washing hands before you eat and after going to the toilet. Also it is a good idea to watch where your cats are, attend to their litter boxes and always, always wash your hands!