Toxoplasmosis & the Fetus

What is Toxoplasmosis?

• Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Most frequently, toxoplasmosis comes from handling cat litter, but it can also come from raw or undercooked meat and blood transfusions. Symptoms of toxoplasmosis include swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, sore throat and muscle pain. Toxoplasmosis generally presents like the flu, unless someone has a suppressed immune system. In this case, seizures, confusion, lung problems and blurred vision are possible. Toxoplasmosis presents a real problem for pregnant women as well, since it can cross into the fetus's bloodstream.

Pregnancy and Toxoplasmosis

• Many times, a mother will be asymptomatic (without symptoms) but still carry the disease. A pregnant woman contracting toxoplasmosis for the first time right before or during pregnancy has a 30 percent chance of passing the disease on to her fetus. You are least likely to pass the disease on to the fetus if you contract toxoplasmosis during the first trimester, and most likely to pass it on if you contract this disease during the third trimester. However, it is far more dangerous for the fetus to contract the disease early in the pregnancy.

What Are the Risks?

• If you are infected with toxoplasmosis early on in your pregnancy, you may have a miscarriage or stillbirth, since this parasite can kill your baby. If the baby is born, there are also many problems that can arise, including seizures, eye infections, jaundice, enlargement of the spleen or liver, diarrhea, eye damage, feeding problems, hearing loss or deafness, low birth weight, skin rash, and abnormal brain and nervous system development. While an infant may not show signs of toxoplasmosis, mental retardation, vision problems and hearing loss may present themselves as problems later in life.

Diagnosing and Treating Fetal Toxoplasmosis

• A mother and fetus may be anemic or have swollen lymph nodes. The fetus may additionally show signs of a larger head size, cerebral calcifications or swelling in the middle layer of the eye. There are three ways doctors screen for toxoplasmosis in fetuses: amniotic fluid testing, antibody titer and ultrasound. If the mother or fetus has toxoplasmosis, it can be treated. Your doctor may prescribed spiramycin and give you pyrimethamine or sulfadiazine for treating the fetus. If the baby is born with toxoplasmosis, your doctor will prescribe pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine along with leucovorin.

How to Prevent Toxoplasmosis

• The best way to prevent toxoplasmosis during pregnancy is to avoid contact with the parasite that causes it. This means finding someone else to change the cat litter and clean the cat areas, avoiding undercooked food and unpasteurized dairy products, drinking clean water, washing all fruits and vegetables, and using different surfaces for cutting meats and vegetables (and cleaning those surfaces thoroughly before reusing). Finally, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly any time you handle raw meat. It is also probably best advised to avoid giving your pets raw meat.