Why is toxoplasmosis dangerous during pregnancy? Is it possible to pick it up from a domestic cat. What you need to do to avoid getting toxoplasmosis
What dangers can lie in wait for a pregnant woman at home, in her own and cozy walls? One of the main horror stories that frighten the expectant mother is toxoplasmosis. If you have a cat, it is strictly forbidden to approach it until the very birth, neighbors and acquaintances scare. Better yet, give the animal to relatives for permanent residence. Is it so? In what cases can toxoplasmosis be dangerous for a pregnant woman? Do all cats need to be anathematized and where else can you get this sore? We tried to answer these questions in our material.
What is toxoplasmosis and for whom is it dangerous?
It is better to take a test for toxoplasmosis before pregnancy / istockphoto.com
All jokes aside, toxoplasmosis is indeed an extremely dangerous disease. However, it is dangerous not for a sick person, but for the fetus - if the infection is attached to a pregnant woman. Its pathogen can be transmitted from mother to baby during intrauterine development. When this happens, it is very great
risk of miscarriage or the occurrence of defects and anomalies in the unborn child. At the same time, toxoplasmosis is dangerous for the fetus in any trimester, but the largest percentage of abnormalities in the development of the baby occurs if the mother becomes infected in the first half of pregnancy.However, how high is the risk of such infection in a pregnant woman? To do this, you need to understand the features of the disease itself. According to the WHO, toxoplasmosis is a very common disease. For example, in Europe, about 2 million people are infected with it. people annually. It is almost asymptomatic, rarely - with a slight increase in temperature, and leaves behind a lifelong immunity.
Toxoplasmosis is transmitted mainly through cats, or rather, through the feces of young animals. Therefore, if in childhood you loved to squeeze yard kittens, then with a probability of 90% you have already been ill with this infection and have antibodies in your body. These antibodies will prevent secondary infection and protect your unborn baby during pregnancy.
To find out if your body has the right antibodies, you can use a laboratory blood test for toxoplasmosis. It can be taken separately, but in general it is mandatory included in screening for TORCH infection, which ideally should be taken at the planning stage of pregnancy. According to the results of the analysis, it is possible to determine the absence of antibodies, primary infection (there are only IgM antibodies in the blood) - it is this that poses a danger to the unborn child. Or the blood will show a latent carriage (IgG antibodies) - this means that you have developed immunity to toxoplasmosis.
Can you get toxoplasmosis from a domestic cat?
You can catch toxoplasma from a cat only through feces / istockphoto.com
If you have antibodies to toxoplasmosis, you can sleep well, do not move your pet to relatives and do not go around every yard cat the tenth way. If the analysis showed the presence of IgM, wait six months with pregnancy and be sure to retake the analysis. If you have IgM and you are already pregnant, do not panic, but go to your gynecologist immediately. Treatment of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women should not always be carried out, but only with a proven acute stage of infection.
What if you do not have antibodies to toxoplasmosis, and at the same time there is a potential carrier of infection in the house? Let's figure out in which cases you can contract a disease from a domestic cat. Firstly, for this she herself must get sick, and theoretically it is possible, even if your favorite nose does not appear on the street. You can bring Toxoplasma to your home yourself - on shoes or in a bag from a butcher's shop. Yes, yes, both cows and pigs can get sick with toxoplasmosis - if, for example, they ate grass on which a sick cat shit. If you decide to pamper your pet with a piece of raw meat, you will provoke an infection.
Even if a cat is sick with toxoplasmosis, contact with it is safe for humans: stroking, squeezing, sleeping next to it is quite acceptable for a pregnant woman. The only risk is animal feces. And then, if they have not been cleaned for many days. The fact is that Toxoplasma leaves the intestine of a cat in the stage of an oocyst (in other words, a cub), which is not yet capable of infecting others. The oocyst matures in the soil for a week, and only after that it is dangerous.
Therefore, from a medical point of view, a pregnant woman cannot contract toxoplasmosis from a sick cat, even if she cleans the tray on her own, but immediately on the day of bowel movement. True, many doctors recommend that you play it safe and clean the cat litter box with gloves, or even delegate this matter to someone and your family. In all other respects, we repeat, a sick cat is physically incapable of infecting humans.
What other ways of infection with toxoplasmosis are
More likely to catch toxoplasmosis in your garden / istockphoto.com
To prevent toxoplasmosis, do not feed your cat raw meat. The same applies to you - don't eat it yourself. No matter how much you would like a steak with blood during pregnancy, remember: Toxoplasma dies only with prolonged heat treatment. For the same reason, in the next 9 months, stop trying raw minced meat "for salt". Moreover, doctors recommend freezing both meat and minced meat before cooking. It may not be so tasty, but low temperatures have a detrimental effect on the vitality of Toxoplasma.
Be sure to wash all fruits and vegetables. Especially those that are "straight from the garden." No one will give you guarantees that a sick cat has not sat down under a tomato bush. If you yourself like to dig in the garden, be sure to wear gloves. Better yet, two pairs. It’s even safer if this annual ritual is done once this year without your participation.
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