In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards and the strengthening of health concepts, the name of Toxoplasma gondii has become known to everyone and the harm has been exaggerated, especially for pregnant women. One-sided information has led many people to conclude that raising cats and dogs for pregnant women is equivalent to Toxoplasma infection even equals the wrong conclusion of fetal malformation. This is all due to the lack of understanding of Toxoplasma gondii. So, what exactly is Toxoplasma gondii in pets?

Toxoplasma gondii is called three corpse parasites in traditional Chinese medicine and is an intracellular parasite. It parasitizes in cells, flows with the blood, and reaches all parts of the body, damaging the brain, heart, and fundus of the eyes, causing a person's immunity to decline and suffering from various diseases. It is an obligate intracellular parasite, subclass Coccidia, order Eucoccidia, family Isosporidae, genus Toxoplasma.

1. How is Toxoplasma spread?

Cats are the final host of Toxoplasma gondii. After being infected with Toxoplasma gondii, they enter the intestinal epithelial cells to reproduce and excrete oocysts. Therefore, even infected cats are relatively safe as long as their feces are cleaned up in time. Humans, dogs, cattle and sheep are all intermediate hosts. After infection, they will not be cross-transmitted unless they are eaten alive by other animals.

2. What are the clinical symptoms of Toxoplasma gondii infection?

Whether it is a cat or other intermediate host, most infections do not have any obvious symptoms. However, Toxoplasma gondii can enter the lymph and blood circulation, be carried to various organs throughout the body, and form cysts in the brain, muscles and other organs. When the cyst develops to a certain extent, symptoms such as fever, loss of appetite, uveitis, jaundice, vomiting, central nervous system disorder, fetal malformation, miscarriage, stillbirth, etc. may occur.

3. How to prevent Toxoplasma gondii infection?

(1) Carry out regular inspections to determine whether domestic pets are infected.

(2) All meat eaten must be heated and cooked thoroughly, both for humans and pets.

(3) Clean up cat feces in a timely manner every day. It is best to wear gloves and clean it thoroughly. Pregnant women are best not to participate in the cleaning.

(4) Vegetables and fruits should be washed thoroughly before consumption, because vegetables may be contaminated by cat feces containing Toxoplasma gondii oocysts.

(5) When walking your dog, try to stay away from areas where stray cats gather; if you come into contact with or feed stray cats, you need to wash your hands in time. When you get home, try to put your shoes in the shoe cabinet to prevent them from being contacted by animals at home.

For pregnant women, in fact, as long as you and your family take correct health protection measures and do more check-ups, you can have both a healthy baby and a pet.