Cats are the primary pets that carry and shed the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, as they are the only animals where the parasite can complete its sexual life cycle, but other warm-blooded pets and livestock, like dogs, sheep, birds, and rodents, can become infected intermediate hosts by eating infected material, potentially harboring cysts in their tissues, posing a risk if raw meat from them is consumed. Humans usually get infected from cat feces or undercooked meat, not directly from a cat, but good hygiene, like cleaning litter boxes daily and feeding cats only commercial food, minimizes risk.
Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a microscopic parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Nearly all warm-blooded animals are susceptible to Toxoplasma infection, including most pets, birds, livestock, rodents, people, and other mammals.
Owning a cat does not mean you will be infected with Toxoplasma. Since it takes a minimum of 24 hours for T. gondii oocysts in cat feces to sporulate and become infective, frequent removal of feces from the litter box, while wearing gloves and washing hands afterward, minimizes the possibility of infection.
Toxoplasma occurs worldwide and infection in cats is similarly widespread. Many more cats are infected than show symptoms. Infection rates are higher in free-roaming and stray cats. In contrast, infection is uncommon in pet cats that do little or no hunting, and are fed primarily or exclusively commercial cat foods.
Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can occur in a number of ways. The most common is by eating undercooked meat or shellfish that have been contaminated with the parasite. Pork, lamb, venison, mussels, oysters and clams are the more frequent vectors.
People who have recently gotten a cat or have outdoor cats, eat undercooked meat, garden without gloves, or who have had a recent mononucleosis-type illness have an increased chance of getting toxoplasmosis. Most adults who are infected with toxoplasmosis have no symptoms.
Symptoms: Most people infected with Toxoplasma gondii will have no symptoms, but some will have flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, or muscle aches that last a few days to several weeks. Symptoms can resemble mononucleosis, including fever, sore throat and muscle aches.
Toxoplasmosis is treated with a combination of anti-parasitic medicines and antibiotics. These stop T. gondii from growing and reproducing in your body.
Prevalence of Toxoplasma and Toxocara Among Stray and Household Cats and Their Owners. Monitoring of the T. gondii B1 gene showed that 15.2% (20/132; 95% CI 10.0–22.2) of stray cats, 18.2% (6/33; 95% CI 8.6–34.4) of household cats, and 51.5% (17/33; 95% CI 35.2–67.5) of cat owners were infected with T. gondii.
The parasite Toxoplasma gondii is carried by 30 per cent of the Australian population, and is a significant cause of miscarriage and birth defects. Our researchers have discovered that a factor called protein kinase A (PKA) is required for Toxoplasma gondii to invade a host cell.
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. In addition, cats kept indoors (that do not hunt prey or are not fed raw meat) are not likely to be infected with Toxoplasma.
The parasite becomes infective one to five days after it is passed in the feces of the cat. The parasite can live in the environment for many months and contaminate soil, water, fruits and vegetables, sandboxes, grass where animals graze for food, litter boxes, or any place where an infected cat may have defecated.
Some cases of acute toxoplasmosis in adults are associated with psychiatric symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. A review of 114 cases of acquired toxoplasmosis noted that “psychiatric disturbances were very frequent” in 24 of the case-patients (10).
However, cats are the most commonly encountered hosts in Australia. They acquire T. gondii from eating infected rodents or birds and then may pass the infection to their human handlers.
As the cat feces dry, the oocysts may become aerosolized. They can thus be inhaled by a person changing cat litter or just walking in an area where cats have defecated. An outbreak of toxoplasmosis among patrons of a riding stable was thought to have occurred in this manner.
Thanks to science, parasite can have sex in mice, not just cats. Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite perhaps best known for its ability to trick mice into taking potentially fatal risks around cats and, in humans, as a serious threat to fetal health, has given up a long-held secret of its reproduction.
The Toxoplasma gondii protozoan parasite causes toxoplasmosis. Approximately 11 percent of the US population 6 years and older have had a Toxoplasma infection. In various places throughout the world, research shows that more than 60 percent of some populations have had Toxoplasma infection.
Cats generally develop immunity after the initial infection; therefore, they shed oocysts only once in their lifetime (from approximately 3 days after infection and for about 20 days thereafter).
A diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is based on blood tests. Laboratory tests can detect two types of antibodies. One antibody is an immune system agent that is present during a new and active infection with the parasite. The other antibody is present if you had an infection at any time in the past.
Most people infected with toxoplasmosis do not have any symptoms. They often don't know they're infected. Some people have flu-like symptoms, including: Fever.
Overview. Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite occurs worldwide and can last for long periods of time (up to a lifetime) in human bodies (and other animals).
There is great variability in the appearance of cutaneous toxoplasmosis; a generalized rash and maculopapular, purpuric, papulopustular, and erythema multiforme-like lesions have been described. Nodular lesions have been observed in the skin of an HIV-infected patient (17).
There are three infectious stages of T. gondii: the tachyzoites (in groups or clones), the bradyzoites (in tissue cysts), and the sporozoites (in oocysts). These stages are linked in a complex life cycle (Fig.
Toxoplasmosis isn't completely curable because dormant parasites (cysts) can remain in the body, but treatments can effectively manage active infections in immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, and those with severe symptoms, preventing severe illness. Healthy people often recover without treatment as their immune system controls the infection, though the cysts can persist for life, only reactivating if immunity weakens.
T. gondii infection is common in many animals used for food, including sheep, pigs and rabbits. Infection in cattle, horses and water buffaloes is less prevalent than infection in sheep or pigs. Toxoplasma gondii may survive in food animals for years in tissue cysts.