Toxoplasmosis

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Toxoplasmosis is a common infection with the germ Toxoplasma gondii. This germ is often acquired before birth, but is sometimes passed on by domestic cats or acquired by eating undercooked meat from infected animals. The germ infects all known mammals and most of us already have antibodies to it.

Toxoplasmosis can affect the nervous system and especially the eye. It is a common cause of permanent damage to the retina, causing a blind spot of variable size, which may enlarge at intervals throughout life. The condition should not be confused with toxocariasis, which is a parasitic worm infestation, also capable of affecting the eye.

When heavy infection occurs before birth, the foetus, which has little immunological protection, often suffers extensive damage to the nervous system and elsewhere, and miscarriage or stillbirth is common.

For the same reasons, toxoplasmosis may be a severe disorder in people with immune deficiency, either from HIV/AIDS or from another cause, with tissue destruction in the brain, lungs and heart caused by the rapidly spreading organisms. About ten per cent of patients with AIDS suffer severe encephalitis (brain inflammation) from toxoplasmosis.