PREGNANCY-BIRTH Messages for May, 2002: Re: Marriage is about compromise

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Re: Marriage is about compromise

From: Jane (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Fri, 31 May 2002 09:07:44 -0500 (CDT)

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Previous message: Fadette: "Re: Tilted Uterus!!!!!!"
In reply to: Fadette: "Marriage is about compromise"

OK, Fadette - here's my opinion: given that nothing in life is without risk, I think you should carefully assess the risk of your contracting a dangerous toxoplasma infection. You know that transmission from cats to humans is rare. That's a fact. Another fact: the infectious organism does not BECOME infectious until it has been sitting outside of the cat in the feces for >24 hours. Another fact: you have to ingest, not inhale, not touch, but ingest, the infectious organism in order to contract an infection. And as discussed here earlier, the current teaching of public health experts (I checked with my public health prof at Penn after I didn't hear back from Dr. C, btw) is that a woman who is seropositive prior to pregnancy CAN NOT transmit toxoplasma to her fetus by contracting a new infection - although there may be some risk to the fetus should the mom become so immunosuppressed (due to chemo, or HIV or something) that the existing infection recrudesces - that is apparently unclear. And of course any given cat will only shed the organism for about 2 weeks shortly after its initial infection and then never shed again unless it gets immunosuppressed (chemo, FIV, etc)...

Do what you feel you need to do. If you have cats, and no one to help you, well - my recommendation would be to wear gloves and a mask if you feel better that way (although I think it's overkill) and change the litter daily to avoid sporulation of the oocysts. Of course I would never tell you to disregard your own physician's recommendations so if he or she says otherwise, I defer (but you might consider speaking to some other docs to see if they agree).Your other options I guess would be to get rid of the cats, move the cats outside (I recommend NEITHER of these) or hire someone to clean the litter for you. It's possible a veterinary assistant or kennel staff member would do it for you for a reasonable fee if you made it a regular thing for a while. I used to do stuff like that for people before I went to vet school - of course, I normally did it while people were away but there's no reason I wouldn't have done it while they were home as long as they paid me.

Good luck.

Jane, VMD

Next message: Caroline: "Re: Marriage is about compromise"
Previous message: Fadette: "Re: Tilted Uterus!!!!!!"
In reply to: Fadette: "Marriage is about compromise"

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