Toxoplasmosis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis and other alike things - is it something to worry about?

Something to worry about for a pregnant mother? something to worry about for an infnat? child?

Thank you all...

Yes, it is something you should be worried about if you are pregnant as it can cause birth defects/blindness in fetus.

That said, if your cats are and have exclusively been indoor cats and eat commercial dry or canned food, there isn't really much of a chance they can get it. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that is shed in cat feces. If you sift the litter box and unknowingly touch get some on your hand then put your hand near your mouth (say you have an itch or something on your lip). Basically, you have to ingest it. You can also get it from handling raw meat that has been infected and gardening without gloves after a cat has used your dirt or mulch as their litter box.

Best prevention - - to be absolutely certain - have someone else sift litter boxes if you are pregnant and ALWAYS wear gloves when gardening (sometimes neighborhood cats may use your mulch as their litter box). Always wear gloves or wash hands THOROUGHLY in hot/warm soapy water after handling raw meat. Cats pick up toxoplasmosis from eating prey (mice, other rodents, birds, etc.) .

If you contract toxoplasmosis while you are pregnant, there is a risk for the developing fetus. However, if you already have toxoplasmosis before you get pregnant, there isn't any risk. As for a child, since most toddlers and young children spend a lot of time with their fingers and hands in or near their mouths, it's best to keep them well away from the litter box and out of garden or loose soil that cats may be attracted to. If you have a sandbox, please, please make sure it has a secure cover and the cover is used in between play sessions. Most cats see sand boxes as really big litter boxes. Make sure children wash their hands thoroughly after playing outdoors .

Here is a link to a fact sheet on toxoplasmosis.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasi...oplasmosis.htm

As someone with cats in the double digits (all former ferals), this is something I was just short of hysterical about when I found out I was pregnant 3 years ago. Despite the fact that all of the kitties had been outside (most came inside when they were young, but the mommy hated being inside, so she was an outdoor mouser who came in when the weather wasn't to her liking), I had myself tested as soon as I found out I was pregnant and I was negative.

I continued to sift litter boxes througout my pregnancy (lots of them, too) wear gloves and washing well afterward.

As with most transmittable diseases, caution and good hygeine go a long, long way in preventing them.

You'd stand a greater chance of the toxoplasmosis by eating raw hamburger or handling it and not washing your hands then you do picking it up from your cat.

If you have a totally indoor cat who has never hunted outside, the risk is very low.

It is dangerous to unborn children. That is why doctors/vets recommend you have someone else clean out the litter pan or if you have to do it, then wear plastic gloves and throw them away.

When I was pregnant with my son, I got a box of 100 disposible plastic gloves and used them. My ex didn't want to clean the litter pan.

Gloves are *not* enough! You'll want to also wear a mask, as toxoplasmosis can also be spread through the dust from the litter pan. It's very important to either have somebody else do this job for you or that you wear gloves and a mask.

Being pregnant myself, I asked this question early on, as I've heard a lot of different things on the subject. Personally I tend to agree with GoldenKitty's first statement on the subject, and have heard as much from doctors. However, it's *always* better safe than sorry!

Toxoplasmosis is a spore producer and spores may live in substances for a long period of time until they meet a host in order to incubate. Animals and humans can pick it up from seemingly ordinary soil. At that point, the spore becomes active and basically enters a growth phase.

A study recently found that toxoplasmosis spores can survive in sea water for six months and infect marine mammals.

Even if a cat is an indoor cat, if it has ever been fed raw meats or eaten mice in the home, it may be a host to toxoplasmosis; accordingly to be safe pregnant women should have no contact with cat feces or litter. The same goes for any individual who is HIV+.

Spore producers must always be viewed with caution. As an fyi, two other commonly known spore producers are botulism and anthrax.

If a cat is, and always has been, an indoor cat and has NEVER eaten a mouse or raw meat, is there still a risk?

Bruce&Sheila

IMO no, at least not any concern to get rid of the cats or do anything more then a little extra sanitation. Personally, I've never known anyone that had cats and had a problem with it.

I wouldn't want to speculate what a cat may or may not have eaten when I wasn't watching, but if your cat is an exclusively indoor cat and has always been, hasn't eaten raw food or live prey, the chances are pretty much nil. You can have your cat tested at the vet if you are concerned. As a precaution, wear a pair of gloves and wash thoroughly after sifting. If you are really concerned about this ask someone else to sift your litterboxes for you - stress and worry aren't terribly good for pregnant women either!

Ditto the advice for the at-risk person to wear a mask if they have to do litterbox cleaning. Make it a surgical mask, not a painter's mask.

Best thing, of course, is just to have someone else do the litterbox duties.

I disagree. Taxo is not airborne under any condition. It can only be transmitted from direct contact either orally (hand to mouth) or via a wound or opening in the skin.

Originally Posted by ghosthunterbeck

Gloves are *not* enough! You'll want to also wear a mask, as toxoplasmosis can also be spread through the dust from the litter pan. It's very important to either have somebody else do this job for you or that you wear gloves and a mask.

Click to expand...

After extensive googling, I've concluded that Stephen is correct. Toxoplasmosis is transmitted by contact, not by air. I suppose one could make a real stretch and say that infected dried fecal dust could be kicked up from the litterbox and float through the air, but it would still have to go into the mouth and not the nose to infect. So I think that a mask would be overkill.

The stretch that one could kick up litter dust and get it into one's mouth is just that - a stretch. Yes you can inhale some litter dust, but you can't catch taxo by doing it. Diseases have vectors - ways in which they move from one animal to another, and those vectors tend to be very consistent, and in the case of Taxo, airborne vectors simply don't exist, as Tim found out in his research.

The Oocysts which carry the Taxo organism aren't even able to infect humans within the first 48 hours or so of being excreted (pooped) by the cat, because they have to sporulate first, something they don't do for at least a couple of days after being pooped out.

If you want to be worried about taxoplasmosis, start by worrying about under cooked meat and unpasteurized cheese.

Many thanks to Tim for taking the time to research the issue, and for sending me an apple

That doesn't make sense. If toxoplasma oocytes get kicked up in the litter dust, then it would be quite easy for someone to get it in their mouth if they happen to have their mouth open or be a mouth breather while cleaning out the litter. Then the transmission process would be pretty much the same as for someone who had it on their hand and touched their lip or mouth. And not everyone scoops out the poo within 48 hrs.

Granted, i assume it would still be much more difficult to catch it this way, as opposed to eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables (something I'm surprised no one else has mentioned).

Still, if you have further information about the vector by which toxo is transmitted, then please do share the details.