Reduce risk factors of disease and you can keep the cat

Finding out you are pregnant can be one of the most significant moments in a woman’s life. For most, it is a moment of profound joy. But sometimes there is a sorrow also, because some women are told, by misinformed but well-meaning friends, relatives or even doctors, to get rid of their first baby, their cat.

The advice to get rid of the cat is usually given because fears of exposure of pregnant women to a single celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that causes a disease called toxoplasmosis. An infected cat can shed the organism in the feces. However, only cats who ingest infected tissue can acquire infection, such as outdoor cats who hunt and eat rodents, as well as cats who are fed raw meat by their owners. In addition, an infected cat will only excrete the organism for about two weeks and the organism is not immediately infectious, requiring one to five days after leaving the cat’s body to form a protective shell and become infective. Once the protective shell is formed the organism can persist in the soil.

According to the Centers for Disease Control more than 60 million people in the United States, may be infected, but very few have symptoms because a healthy person’s immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. In other words, most people who become infected with Toxoplasma are not aware of it. But if the infected individual doesn’t have a competent immune system, then the infection can cause illness. Individuals with immune systems that are not competent include patients receiving chemotherapeutic agents that suppress the immune system, people with diseases like HIV or some cancers and fetuses. While the mother’s immune system can fight off the infection, if she has her first exposure when she is pregnant and has no protective antibodies, it can pass through the placenta to the fetus, which can not.

One route of exposure is the direct route, through accidentally swallowing the organism by touching your hands to your mouth after cleaning the cat’s litter box. This is why pregnant women are told to not change their cat litter boxes or if they do so to wear rubber gloves. Or, because the organism is not immediately infective, change the litter box every day.

It’s during pregnancy that many daddies-to-be discover that the cat’s litter box doesn’t clean itself. We recommend that dutiful pet dads should simply roll up their sleeves, hold their noses, and keep the litter box clean.

But there are two other ways to get exposed to toxoplasmosis and it is worrisome that these two pathways are lesser known, but actually are believed to cause more infections in the U.S.

Because the spores of the organism can persist on soil, a woman can become exposed through gardening or eating unwashed vegetables. The other source of infection is unsafe handling of meats or consuming undercooked meats. So the advice for pregnant women is to wear gloves when changing the cat box (or have someone else do it), wear gloves when gardening, thoroughly wash vegetables, and engage in safe handling practices when handling meats and to not consume raw or undercooked meat.

In December 2003 Nancy Peterson of the Humane Society of the United States initiated a campaign to get the facts about toxoplasmosis to pregnant women and their doctors, They sent packets to more than 32,000 gynecologists with a four page practical guide to preventing toxoplasmosis for physicians written by Jeffrey D. Kravetz, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine, brochures entitled “Your Baby and Your Pet” for their patients and a survey for the doctors of what was their advice to pregnant women regarding preventing toxoplasmosis.

“We were disappointed to find that of those 1,500 doctors who responded to our survey, almost half did not recommend all three of the important preventative measures. The focus was the litter box when in reality, eating raw and undercooked meat or gardening in contaminated soil are more likely ways of transmitting toxoplasmosis in the United States,” said Peterson.

If you are pregnant and would like a copy of this brochure, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to The HSUS, Toxo-BW, 2100 L St. NW, Washington, DC 20037. Indicate if you would like the information in English or Spanish. Your doctor may receive the mail packet by contacting Peterson at npeterson@hsus.org or(301) 258-3129.

Some 3,300 babies are born a year in the U.S. with toxoplasmosis. It is our hope that with public education and by following of some simple precautions, we could bring that number to zero.

A cat is a great companion for a pregnant woman to snuggle with as she prepares to embark on the adventure of parenthood. We hope that it will also comfort her to know that she can reduce the risk of toxomplasmosis and yet still keep her cat.

You may also find information about toxoplasmosis at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/toxoplasmosis