What is Toxoplasmosis? How Can You Avoid It During Pregnancy?
Toxoplasmosis is an infection that can threaten the health of a child not yet born. Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a unicellular parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that, when it affects a pregnant woman, may endanger the health of her unborn child.
The parasite presents three different forms: trophozoite (before tachyzoite), tissue cysts and oocysts. The latter only occur in the intestines of the definitive hosts.
The life cycle of Toxoplasma definitive host is the cat, or family members who, after ingesting any of the forms of the parasite undergoes in the epithelial cells of the intestine an asexual cycle and then a sexual cycle, eliminated in their feces million oocysts. When these become infective sporulate being able to infect other animals through ingestion. Below 4 degrees C or above 37, no sporulation occurs and oocysts are not infectious
Toxoplasmosis can be acute or chronic, symptomatic or asymptomatic. The newly acquired acute infection is usually asymptomatic in older children and adults, and if you have signs and symptoms (acute disease), these are usually of short duration and self-limiting. In most cases persists as tissue cysts but the person usually has no clinical manifestations (chronic infection), but in other cases presented with persistent or recurrent clinical forms (chronic).
Here are some tips to help you avoid exposure to toxoplasma during your pregnancy:
- Do not let your cat go outside your home where it can come intocontact with toxoplasma. If possible, have someone else take care of your cat while you are pregnant.
- Have another family member clean the cat litter box and then disinfect it with boiling water for five minutes.
- If you must handle the chore of cleaning the cat litter box use rubber gloves (rubber) to avoid contact with the stool and then wash hands thoroughly.
- Use work gloves when gardening and wash hands afterwards. Cover sandboxes children when not in use because the cats like to use them as litter boxes.
- As much as possible to control fleas and cockroaches. They can spread to food or soil contaminated cat feces.
- Avoid eating raw meat or poultry or undercooked and unwashed fruits or vegetables.
- Wash hands thoroughly before eating and after contact with raw meat, soil, sand or cats.
- Avoid rubbing your eyes or face when preparing food and clean the area where he worked when finished.
- Avoid eating raw eggs and unpasteurized milk.