Reassurance around food fears

[Tercear]

Hello,

This is my second pregnancy and I'm currently 24 weeks. On Friday I went for lunch with a colleague and ordered venison and rarebit on toast. I has asked for the venison to be cooked through due to the pregnancy. As I was just about finished I noticed that the meat was very are (bloody and only cooked around the outside). I stupidly hadn't noticed as I was talking and the meat was covered with the salad and rarebit sauce. I've now managed to freak myself out about toxoplasmosis and the devastating effects it can have!

Does anyone have any idea just how high the risk is of contracting this from rare venison?

Thanks in advance!

First thing is, have you been tested? And are you negative? If you were positive, you have antibodies, so you're in the clear as you were infected at some point before pregnancy and then the guidelines don't apply to you (it's only first infections that can be dangerous).

Second, it is true there is more of a chance of contracting toxo from things like venison, lamb , etc. than from beef and pork. I think that's partially because venison and lamb tend to be eaten at least pink as opposed to pork, but it's also because they're 'wilder'. However, I think unless your venison was never frozen and came from the woods (shot by your uncle or so) as opposed to farmed meat, there would IMO be a only pretty small risk because meat production these days is so clean that the risk of toxo taking hold is virtually 0 (I read a Dutch study about this somewhere in connection with beef).
Plus most meat would in all likelihood have been frozen at some point, which eliminates the toxoplasmosis parasite anyway.

Still, if you ask for cooked, that means cooked though. You shouldn't have been tricked into eating something you didn't want to.

I think the risk is probably very low (I've eaten tons of rare and cured meat in my lifetime and own two cats and both of the tests I've had showed no immunity) so please try not to worry too much.

I'm not sure of the relative risks compared to other meats but if you mention it to your midwife/GP and they can arrange a blood test for you to put your mind at rest - I did the same after eating a (very delicious) rare steak before I knew I was pregnant.

Very bad of the restaurant to serve it to you like that when you had requested it well done though! But I still think the risks are low.

I've eaten tonnes and tonnes of pink venison and lots of other meat and my antibodies test showed I've never had toxoplasmosis.
Furthermore, I was obsessed with it and know lots about it.
Read the cooking section of this:
www.pork.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/toxoplasma.pdf
Also read this:
www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/Documents/Toxoplasma%20gondii%20-%20jan%202014.pdf
Cooking infected meat to internal temperatures of 67°C or higher inactivates the tissues cysts.
It is likely that the venison reached that temperature.

Thanks all, you've done a lot to put my mind at rest :) I know that I worried myself even more by reading lots into it, but once I started I couldn't stop. It was irritating that they served rare meat, however I didn't feel I could say much as I was too engrossed to notice until nearly finished.

Thanks again!