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Comment by farmdve | Hacker News Reader

Is the article sensational when it says that about cysts in the brain? Cause I've had a cat for over 4.5 years now.!?

The wikepedia article says that Toxo is linked to ADHD and OCD, both of which I have, OCD since last year.

While lots of people mention the connection between cats and toxoplasmosis, it's actually more likely for you to get it from eating undercooked meat than from your cats. It comes out in their feces, and you would need to eat the feces to get infected; so while it can happen if you clean the litter box and don't wash your hands afterwards, it's not all that likely.

It is also carried by chickens and pigs, so if you eat undercooked pork or chicken, that could be a risk factor.

Cats use the litterbox and then lick their paws, as well as the rest of their body. If you pet your cat and then absent-mindedly eat something (like I've done all too often, unfortunately), you may become infected.

Throwaway for obvious reasons, but this would actually explain a lot. Oh god...

Hmm, might be a decent reason to train your cat how to use a toilet.

Infection control doesn't work like that.

Anything that touches the cat's litter or butt might be infected. I.e. you'd have to keep the cat off your furniture, especially eating or food preparation areas -- every time. You'd have to not ever put your face on something that the cat might have snuggled against, or walked on. It's just not feasible.

Cat's get far more blame than is really warranted. In order to get it from a cat, you need to first have the cat get infected by eating an infected mouse, then during a roughly two week period where it is shedding the parasite in its feces, you need to eat the cat's feces. If either your cat does not have access to mice to eat, or you don't eat your cat's feces, then you are fine.

To be clear, you don't need to "eat" the cat's feces. Tons of human infections spread by the same route (feco-oral), almost none of which are caused by humans literally eating other humans' feces.

For example, have you ever seen a cat lick its paws? And then lick it's fur (that you pet)? Well, those same paws have been in the cat's litter box (as pointed out by another comment).

Also, if you empty out the litter box and the feces are dried, they can create dust which a human might breath in (and swallow).

So just as with humans, infections spread from cat to human by feco-oral route are not literally from "eating feces".

You let the cat outside, and changed its litter-box.

No I don't let it outside, that's the point. And I don't eat anything I find in the litter box while changing it.

do you really think that the people who get the parasite are knowingly eating pieces of cat feces?

No, I think they are eating undercooked meat. Remember, a cat can only spread it for about two weeks. The people who do get it from cats are most likely not washing their hands after cleaning the litter box. That is eating feces, just indirectly. I do not do that, I wash my hands.

Or petting a cat. Or allowing a cat into their bed. Or sleeping on a couch that an infections cat has climbed onto. Or the cat walks across the dinner table or kitchen counter.

You seem to have a really wrong mental model of how fecal-oral transmission happens.

If I have Norwalk (Norovirus) someone else doesn't need to literally lick my butt or eat my feces to get it. If I wandered around their apartment naked (interesting image) and sat on or walked across random pieces of furniture, they'd be very likely to get it.

You are seriously overestimating the likelihood of transfer via those methods. The odds are actually very small. Simply having a cat walking around gives you very poor odds of transmission. It is not a cold.

Do you touch the faucet handle with your hands and then touch it again when you are done washing?

You're missing out, there's some really tasty stuff in there.

"Most infected cats will shed oocysts only once in their lifetimes, for a period of about one to two weeks."

I don't understand why the downvote though.

I don't understand what you are talking about.

I keep getting downvoted for no obvious reason.

Ok, but why are you asking me about it? I don't control everyone on HN. I can't downvote anyone yet, this is a new account.

Not every cat carries it and not everyone having a cat gets it.

Source? Two cats, a wife that gave me two perfect kids and mandatory 'Do you have that condition' tests during both pregnancies.

So .. she didn't get it. I assume I didn't either. And really, don't fall into any kind of panic mode. Consult your doctor if you want/must, but .. don't treat random articles on the net as medical advice (that includes this very post).

From the stuff I've read, it's normal to think about being infected with this. The symptoms are very vague sounding, after all.

In reality, the effects of Toxo are very subtle. A team of 50 research subjects are needed in order to detect a statistical change in behaviour.

More here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3515034/

The link of Toxo with cats will always be there because "Cats are the only place that the parasite can reproduce sexually."

According to a recent microbiology lecture I had, you are not at risk unless your cats go outdoors.

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