Having anxiety over toxoplasmosis :-(

[Bluebell01]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post so apologies if it's in the wrong section!

So I've been really paranoid about toxoplasmosis the last few months - not because we have a cat but because our neighbour's cat poos ALL over our garden! Grrrr. Especially in the flowerbeds! I suffer from severe anxiety and have done for years, and initially decided not to garden during pregnancy because I was so worried about it.

Anyway, told myself I was being irrational and today did some gardening, wore gloves and planned to wash my hands like crazy afterwards like normal. After I came in, I grabbed some cold pasta from the fridge and 5 minutes later suddenly realised I hadn't washed my hands!!! :-( I then washed them like a madwoman but I'm so worried I could have got soil on my hands when taking off the gloves and could have caught something. There was cat poo in the same flowerbed yesterday (which was removed) so there could definitely be traces.

I'm going out of my mind with worry and feel so stupid. I couldn't bear the guilt if I've harmed my baby. I guess I'm just looking for any experience with this or anyone who knows how likely it is that I've contracted something. Our neighbour's cat is pretty old (I think it's more common in younger cats) so hoping she doesn't have it. Arrrrgh.

When I had kittens they accidentally shat all over my living room.

My two cats used to sit with their arseholes in the side of my face when I was asleep.

I long ago stopped worrying about toxoplasmosis.

And the kitten shitting incident was when I was pregnant as well.

Cats crap all over their owners places when they want to and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone getting anything nasty.

OP, when I was pregnant I had 11 indoor cats and approx 60 other feral/stray/rescue cats that I used to have physical contact with everyday. Toxo really is quite uncommon. I still did all the litter trays everyday, cuddled/kissed all my rescues and street cats as much as ever. Both me and my 18mo son are absolutely fine. You and your baby are too. X

Thanks all for info.

Robinia did you have toxoplasmosis before or did you get a new infection when you were pregnant? Were you treated?

I read in the book Gut that your chances of having it are roughly the same percentage as your age. So if you're in your thirties it's possible you've had it. I have had it, but hadn't a clue at the time, I only found out during a routine test while pregnant.

I'm a Veterinary Nurse and a cat owner so I have been handling cat poo on an almost daily basis for the past 9.5 years and I am still negative for toxo. I recently had a baby and because I'm in an 'at risk' group I was tested during my pregnancy and I have never contracted it. I also eat rare meat regularly. So the chances of you picking it up whilst wearing gloves is so very small you really shouldn't worry. Hope that helps. I know it's hard not to obsess about everything but try to relax. Good luck.

Had similar anxiety in pregnancy after making lamb meatballs and touched my face without thinking. I realised i was brunt a little over anxious when i ended up reading a paper about the prevelance of toxo in northern Irish lamb (where sainsbos get lamb from!) Trying to calculate the chance of me getting it. I just got my midwife to test me after 3 weeks (incubation period)

*@Thingymaboob

Robinia did you have toxoplasmosis before or did you get a new infection when you were pregnant? Were you treated?*

Apparently a new infection. Something about IgG and IgM levels? I don't think I had any medication but had to have monthly scans at Kings with a famous consultant! And got offered terminations every time. Risk factor for baby being affected was said to be 1 in 4.

@robinia
Thank you for your reply. Blinking heck! That sounds stressful. Glad to hear everything turned out well.
How many weeks were you when you were infected? Do you know the source?

It's good this post is still helping others but zombie thread alert, the OPs baby is born now.

@Thingymaboob

It was when the first bloods were done so maybe 12 weeks?
To be honest I didn't really believe it
But I had scans which were supposed to be picking up any problems (brain injury / blindness) and they never showed anything so I kept going. They were still offering me termination up to 36 weeks

It seemed too co-incidental to me. Infected at the very time when I had been most careful - I had a 1 yr old at the time too. So I have no idea of the source though I did have cats - as I have done all my life.