{"id":6158,"date":"2019-05-08T04:52:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T04:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/?p=6158"},"modified":"2021-06-08T15:55:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T15:55:29","slug":"14-causes-of-toxoplasmosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/14-causes-of-toxoplasmosis\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Causes of Toxoplasmosis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A rather nasty infection, caused by a parasite with a single cell called Toxoplasma gondii, toxoplasmosis usually affects humans and other warm-blooded mammals. Usually, a person becomes infected due to eating raw or undercooked meeting, or from coming into contact with cats or cat feces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is estimated that over 60 million people in the USA carry the parasite at any one time, with over one-third of the population of the entire world potentially infected. The majority of those infected suffer no symptoms, due to healthy and functioning immune systems that keep complications at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For people with weakened immune systems, children, the elderly and especially pregnant women though, toxoplasmosis can be a very dangerous thing. So what causes it? Let\u2019s look in more detail at 8 of the causes. A better understanding of how the infection enters the body equips a person with a better chance of avoiding it altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.  Contact with cats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Love them or hate them, cats are as much a part of the average American home as man’s best friend is. You’ll find millions of cats in every American city and in every dot on the map between those cities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with this in terms of toxoplasmosis<\/a> is that cats are the most common host for the parasite which causes the infection, Toxoplasma gondii. Most people with dogs allow them to get up on the furniture, and even into the beds, even though they know they probably shouldn\u2019t, but cats are a law unto themselves, and even if you have a \u2018no cats on the sofa\u2019 rule in operation, it\u2019s likely that your cat flaunts this at every opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the cat that has the human, remember, and never the other way around. So with cats being the main host of the infection causing parasite, and cats going virtually everywhere that humans go, including on pillows and inside wardrobes, it\u2019s not hard to see how transmission from cat to human occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2.  Contact with cat feces<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that most people in the world will come into contact with cat feces on a semi-regular basis, without even knowing about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gets everywhere, and certainly doesn’t just stay within the confines of the litter tray, even if you can convince your cat to use one. Trampled all over the place by our furry feline friends, it can prove very problematic in the spread of toxoplasmosis, given that a particular stage of the life cycle of the parasite, occurs in cat feces. The stage of the lie cycle, known as oocysts<\/a>, are shed with a scattergun approach within cat feces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately for humans, and for any other red-blooded mammals within the vicinity, these nasty little things can cause the infection to transmit when they are ingested orally. Yep, that’s eating cat poo we’re talking about. Just a little bit, but it’s still eating cat poo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3.  Eating raw meat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another way in which a person can pick up the infection, that doesn\u2019t involve cats, is by ingesting raw meat<\/a>. If you\u2019re turning your nose up at the very suggestion then you\u2019ll probably manage to swerve this eventuality, but plenty of cultures love a good bit of raw meat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within raw meat, tissue cysts can lie waiting for a suitable vessel to infect and so the unknowing consumer of this raw meat, accidentally infects themselves with the infection causing parasite. Is it worth the risk of toxoplasmosis to enjoy a piece of raw meat? You have to judge that for yourself, but it is also something that pet owners must bear in mind, given that some people choose to feed their dogs a raw diet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst there are noted health benefits of this type of dog feed, it doesn’t come without its risks. Every animal in the wild, therefore, it follows, is at risk of contracting toxoplasmosis through raw meat ingestion. It\u2019s true, they are, but as long as their immune system is fired up they\u2019ll most likely be OK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4.  Eating undercooked meat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How do you want your steak? Chances are you always give the same answer. It’s unlikely that anyone would go from having a rare steak one week to a cremated steak the next. It all comes down to personal preference. One thing is for sure though, if you gave most people the choice between a piece of meat that could potentially cause toxoplasmosis, and a piece of meat that definitely won\u2019t, the vast majority of people would choose the latter option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who chooses the first with that information at hand should probably not be invited to dinner. It\u2019s less likely to be an issue than with raw meat, but it\u2019s true that undercooked meat could also cause a person to inadvertently infect themselves with the toxoplasmosis causing parasite<\/a>. All of a sudden there may well be a massive increase in people asking for their steaks to be served \u2018well done\u2019, you know, just to be on the safe side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5.  Drinking raw milk from an infected goat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As niche as it sounds, this could potentially be one further way that a person could infect themselves with toxoplasmosis. Lots of warm-blooded animals, including humans, cows, pigs, and deer can act as middlemen for the transmission of the parasites. These intermediate hosts serve to hold on to the tissue cysts as they develop, usually causing the carrier no symptoms <\/a>at all, meaning that the infection goes undetected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinking raw goats milk is something that many cultures practice as the norm, given that it is readily available, cheap and very nutritious. In developing countries, it can be seen as a staple for some people, and so the very notion that it could be potentially harmful or even fatal is particularly alarming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The birth defects that can arise when a pregnant woman passes on toxoplasmosis to her unborn child can be catastrophic, and so more education is needed to prevent needless transmissions of the infection, such as this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6.   Organ transplantation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is something that is incredibly rare, but there have been isolated cases whereby the recipient of an organ donation has subsequently become ill with toxoplasmosis, only for testing to find that the original donor was actually a carrier of the parasite themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated previously, the presence of the parasite in a person or animal does not mean that they will experience any symptoms or suffer any complications. As with any form of transmission <\/a>though, just because the source vessel suffered little or no complications, does not mean that the eventual recipient of the organs will be quite so lucky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are fortunate to live in an age where organ donation and life-saving organ transplantations are becoming the norm, but care is needed to ensure one serious problem doesn\u2019t take the place of the initial serious problem it sought to resolve. Testing prior to donation is one way forward with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7.   Blood transfusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is very similar to the previous point, in that it is very rare. The only really prevalent transmission route is down to those pesky cats and their feces, but blood transfusions have been known to be responsible for isolated cases of toxoplasmosis infection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very nature of needing a blood transfusion suggests that the recipient already has a weakened immune system<\/a> or even some type of immunodeficiency even, and so it should perhaps come as little surprise that they would develop symptoms of toxoplasmosis, even when the person who donated the blood had never experienced any symptoms. This is a very difficult problem to manage and try to guard against, as blood donation is on the rise due to demand from hospitals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s face it, if you\u2019re bleeding out on the operating table, you\u2019re unlikely to be particularly choosy about the blood that keeps you alive, are you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. \tGardening<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This seems like a strange cause to tag on to the end but it fits in nicely as a bookend, because of its link to cats and their feces. What was mentioned earlier about how cat feces seem to get everywhere, is especially true of gardens and planters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One doesn\u2019t need to have their own cat to be affected by this, as cats roam far and wide, doing their business wherever and whenever they choose. It\u2019s often difficult to determine what is a clod of mud and what is a lump of cat poo. The best practice is to wash the hands thoroughly or wear gardening gloves of course, but fragments of the feces, once raked up and spread about, can still be ingested by an unwitting gardener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, pregnant women are advised to leave the gardening well alone whilst their expecting. It\u2019s best to leave the digging around in the cat poo to those whose immune systems<\/a> can take a bit of a battering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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