Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic desease that is found mostly in cats but can infect humans and other animals as well. It is passed from mother cat to kitten, by eating infected meat or from infected faeces. Mostly however, it is contacted by a cat after eating an infected mouse or rat.

Pregnant women are warned NOT to change the kitty litter box if possible. Or to was their hands VERY well after changing the litter. Toxoplasmosis can cause fetal death in the first trimester.

Sparky MIGHT have been infected with Toxoplasmosis as a kitten, but there were no tests on this parasite. I did contact the vet who treated the mother cats and kittens before they were sent to the pet store, but they said no other cats were sick and nothing was reported back to them.

An few interesting facts about toxoplasmosis...

it seems to change the behavior on the infected host. Infected mice and rats are less fearful of cats. Some some of the infected rats seek out cat-urine-marked areas!

it's considered to be the third leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More that 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. Some syptoms would be a flu like illness, low-grade
encephalitis. The person may become very ill if they have a compromised immune system, such as with HIV/AIDS or chemotherapy patients.

it was once thought that toxoplasmosis might cause schizophrenia in humans. Haloperidol, an anti-psychotic used for treating schizophrenia, can actuallystop the growth of Toxoplasma in cell cultures.