In addition to serious eye disease, toxoplasmosis can cause severe lung or brain disease for a person with weakened immunity. Rarely, the infection can show up in other tissues throughout the body. Lung infection may cause: Breathing problems.
Similarly, T. gondii has been linked to behavioural changes in humans. Toxoplasma infection is classically associated with the frequency of schizophrenia, suicide attempts or "road rage". A more recent study shows that toxoplasma infection prevalence was a consistent, positive predictor of entrepreneurial activity.
Most healthy people recover from toxoplasmosis without treatment. Persons who are ill can be treated with a combination of drugs such as pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, plus folinic acid.
People can be infected by: Accidental ingestion of oocysts after cleaning a cat's litter box when the cat has shed Toxoplasma in its feces. Accidental ingestion of oocysts after touching or ingesting anything that has come into contact with a cat's feces that contain Toxoplasma.
Owning a cat does not mean you will be infected with the parasite. It is unlikely that you would be exposed to the parasite by touching an infected cat because cats usually do not carry the parasite on their fur.
The prevalence of oocyst shedding in cats is very low (0-1%), even though at least 15-40% of cats have been infected with Toxoplasma at some point. This means very few cats at any one time are actually able to pass their infection on to people.
The long-term or chronic effects of the infection result when the cysts spread to the brain and muscle cells. The cysts, which can stay in the body as long as the person lives, can rupture and cause severe illness including damage to the brain, eyes and other organs.
Interestingly, most people acquire toxoplasma by eating undercooked meat or contaminated produce. A pregnant woman can also become infected by inadvertently ingesting contaminated cat feces or inhaling litter dust while cleaning the litter box.
Infection by the parasite Toxoplasma, which affects about 33% of world population, is associated with an increased risk of several mental health disorders, the most strongly with schizophrenia.
Your brain on Toxoplasma
Infection with Toxoplasma does not usually produce symptoms in humans unless their immune systems are compromised, but the parasites remain in the body for life as latent tissue cysts. These tissue cysts are commonly found in the brain, heart and skeletal muscle.
Toxoplasmosis is considered to be a leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More than 40 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.
You may have heard that cat feces can carry the infection toxoplasmosis. This infection is only found in cats who go outdoors and hunt prey, such as mice and other rodents.
In addition to serious eye disease, toxoplasmosis can cause severe lung or brain disease for a person with weakened immunity. Rarely, the infection can show up in other tissues throughout the body. Lung infection may cause: Breathing problems.
If you have a weakened immune system, your doctor will treat you with a combination of drugs to kill the Toxoplasma parasite. The usual treatment of choice is pyrimethamine combined with sulfadiazine.
In the human host, the parasites form tissue cysts, most commonly in skeletal muscle, myocardium, brain, and eyes; these cysts may remain throughout the life of the host.
The most common symptoms of toxoplasmosis include fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy. Other symptoms may occur depending upon whether the infection is acute or chronic, and the location of the parasite in the body.
Ammonia, which is a toxic gas, can cause serious breathing issues and other problems. The ammonia can cause irritation of the bronchial membranes in your lungs, and lead to lots of coughing, as well as severe injury to the tissues in your trachea and lungs.
Incubation period is 5–23 days. Symptoms may include influenzalike symptoms or a mononucleosis syndrome with prolonged fever, lymphadenopathy, elevated liver enzymes, lymphocytosis, and weakness. Rarely, chorioretinitis or disseminated disease can occur in immunocompetent people.
Safe food preparation and hand washing are the most important things you can do to help prevent toxoplasmosis. Follow safe freezing and cooking practices before eating meat. Peel fruits and vegetables or wash thoroughly before eating.
The diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is typically made by serologic testing. A test that measures immunoglobulin G (IgG) is used to determine if a person has been infected.
Adults can become infected after by eating raw or undercooked meat infected with Toxoplasma gondii tissue cysts. People can only become infected with Toxoplasma gondii parasites through contact with infected animal faeces (usually cat faeces).
Antibiotics are the only treatment currently used, and most cats recover from clinical toxoplasmosis when a complete course is given. Clindamycin is the most commonly prescribed antibiotic. Whilst it will not eliminate dormant cysts, it is effective against the active forms.
"Toxoplasma gondii is a very rare cause of disease in cats." Such disease may be acute (rapid in onset) or more chronic with periods of illness interspersed with periods of some recovery. It is important to remember that Toxoplasma gondii is a very rare cause of disease in cats.
The majority of cats, though, will be permanently infected with the parasite and show no outward signs of illness. A tiny percentage of cats infected with toxoplasmosis will die from an overwhelming infection.