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Comment by cm2012 | Hacker News Reader

cm2012

Quick PSA: The number one method of infection for toxoplasmosis is foodborne from undercooked meat (which is why France has a 90%+ infection rate). Most people focus on cats.

While cats are a vector, this really only applies to cats allowed outdoors. Indoor cats bear no risk of infection.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/

Edit: Mistake on France stat, actually 50% of pop.

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The infection rate among adults in France is 50%. It is impossible for the whole population to have a 90% infection rate then.

Western Europe, excluding the UK, has a mean infection rate of 70%. The climate seems to be important for the transmission, and not simply the food regimen.

"No risk" seems a bit strong here. (Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But I was definitely in charge of the litter box when my wife was pregnant).

Could an indoor cat who has at some point shared a litter box with an outdoor cat have picked up spores (in the same way that a human might), for instance? Or, my cats were rescued as young kittens after their (stray) mother died: were they in the wild long enough to be exposed? (And how many cats adopted in the US have similar histories that their owners might not even have heard about?)

Cats exposed to toxo have finished shedding it after two weeks. If your cat has not been exposed to the outdoors or an indoor/outdoor cat in over two weeks, they are pretty darn safe. Maybe give it a month or two if you want to be extra sure.

I would never want to risk it because I've seen the damage it can do. My family fosters kitten litters with a nearby animal shelter. It's normally fun and rewarding work, but we once lost an entire litter to toxoplasmosis. It;s generally harmless to people and cats, but in young kittens who don't have very strong immune systems it becomes a degenerative neurological disease. The vets initially thought it was rabies from the symptoms: lethargy progressing to a loss of motor control. We had to clean the room we kept them in with bleach, wash all the cushions and blankets thoroughly, throw out all the cat toys...

I don't know what Toxo does to fetuses and infants, but based on what it does to kittens I'm not keen on finding out.

Serious neurological problems or abortion in fetus. In adults is generally harmless, except some cases with loss of vision and so on.

90%+ of cats in the UK are outdoor cats.

That's interesting. I used to eat meat well done. But then learned that it unless it is rare or at least medium I doing things "wrong". And indeed it does taste better when it is not cooked all the way through. Now reading this makes me rethink it.

Are there notable behavioral differences that can be observed in a population at that scale?

Nothing but hearsay in humans.

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