TOXOPLASMOSIS

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection caused by exposure to the parasite Toxoplasma Gondii. This parasite infects all warm blooded animals, but its most common reservoir is our favorite feline companion, the domestic cat. Cats can get toxoplasmosis from their mothers during birth or from consuming infected meat. The disease is asymptomatic in cats.

Most commonly, humans contract toxoplasmosis through inadvertant injestion of cat feces. Typically, this occurs when people don't clean their hands thoroughly after cleaning their cat's litter box and later put their fingers on or near their mouths.

In a normal, healthy person, toxoplasmosis poses little danger. An infected person might have some flu like symptoms as the body defends itself against the parasitic invader, but soon the body will contain the infection and push the toxoplasmosis into latency. It can reemerge later if the immune system is compromised. Healthy individuals with especially aggressive cases of toxoplasmosis can sometimes develop eye problems due to the disease.

In immunocompromised people, such as transplant recipients, very young children or AIDS patients, toxoplasmosis can be a fatal disease. In these patients toxoplasmosis can cause neurological damage, encephalitis and heart, liver and kidney failure.

Toxoplasmosis has been linked to the development of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, lending creadance to the stereotype of the "crazy cat lady."

Acute toxoplasmosis is treated with antimalarial and antibiotic medications.

Since this disease is rarely lethal but can cause some terrifying effects in certain subgroups, I give this sick a

2 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 3 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)