What is toxoplasmosis?
Toxoplasmosis (toxo) is an infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The infection is most commonly acquired from contact with cats and their feces or with raw or undercooked meat.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 60 million people in the United States may carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because a healthy immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors?
Toxoplasmosis is found in humans worldwide, and in many species of animals and birds. Cats are the definitive host of the parasite.
Human infection may result from:
Blood transfusions or solid organ transplants
Carelessly handling cat litter, which can lead to accidental consumption of infectious particles
Eating contaminated soil
Eating raw or undercooked meat (lamb, pork, and beef)
Toxoplasmosis also affects people who have weakened immune systems.
The infection may also be passed from an infected mother to her baby through the placenta.


What factors increase the risk of acquiring toxoplasmosis?
The following situations potentially expose a person to the toxoplasma parasite and increase the risk of acquiring toxoplasmosis:

touching your hands to your mouth after gardening, cleaning a cat's litter box, or anything that came into contact with cat feces

eating raw or partly cooked meat, especially pork, lamb, or venison

touching your hands to your mouth after contact with raw or undercooked meat

organ transplantation or transfusion (this is rare)

If a woman is pregnant when she is infected with toxo, the infection can be transmitted from her to the baby with sometimes catastrophic consequences.

What are the usual symptoms of toxoplasmosis?
Although people infected with toxoplasmosis are often unaware of having this disease, typical symptoms of toxo are flulike symptoms including swollen lymph nodes and muscle aches and pains that last from a few days to several weeks. If your immune system is normal, you cannot get the infection again.

Most primary infections produce no symptoms. The time between exposure to the parasite and symptom development is 1 - 2 weeks. The disease can affect the brain, lung, heart, eyes, or liver.

Symptoms in persons with otherwise healthy immune systems:
Enlarged lymph nodes in the head and neck
Headache
Mild illness with fever, similar to mononucleosis
Muscle pain
Sore throat
Symptoms in immunosuppressed persons:
Confusion
Fever
Headache
Retinal inflammation that causes blurred vision
Seizures
For symptoms in babies born with the condition, see congenital toxoplasmosis.

Signs and tests
Tests to determine infection or to find cysts related to this infection:
Antibody titers for toxoplasmosis
Cranial CT scan
MRI of head
Slit lamp exam
Brain biopsy

Why do some people develop severe problems from toxoplasmosis?
Few people with toxo develop symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. However, anyone with a compromised immune system is at risk for serious problems from toxo. These individuals include those undergoing chemotherapy, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune disorders, and recent organ-transplant recipients.

In these people, an infection that occurred anytime during life can reactivate and cause the severe symptoms of toxoplasmosis such as damage to the eye, brain, or other organs.

Ocular toxoplasmosis, which damages the eyes, can lead to reduced vision, blurred vision, pain (often with bright light), redness of the eye, and sometimes tearing, according to the CDC.

What is the treatment for toxoplasmosis?
Once the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is confirmed, you and your doctor should discuss whether treatment is necessary. In an otherwise healthy person who is not pregnant, treatment is not needed. Symptoms will usually go away within a few weeks. For pregnant women or people who have weakened immune systems, drugs are available to treat the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.

what are the Preventive measures?
Avoid undercooked meats.
Freeze meat to minus 20 degrees Celsius for 2 days.
Wash hands after handling raw meat.
Protect children's play areas from cat and dog feces.
Wash your hands thoroughly after contact with soil that may be contaminated with animal feces.
Pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems should avoid cleaning cat litter boxes and materials that are potentially infected with cat feces. They should also avoid materials that could be contaminated by insects exposed to cat feces (cockroaches, flies, etc.).
Pregnant women should have a blood test for toxoplasmosis.
Patients with HIV disease should have blood tests to screen for toxoplasmosis.
 

Select Language English Russian French German Italian Japanese Korean Portuguese Spanish Greek Dutch Hindi