Toxoplasmosis During Pregnancy: Prevention

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Prevention

If you are not pregnant (or not planning to be pregnant soon) and have a healthy immune system, you do not need to prevent toxoplasmosis infection. It is a passing infection with mild or no symptoms.

If you have had toxoplasmosis, you cannot get it again. This is because your immune system has learned how to fight it. This immunity protects both you and your fetus from toxoplasmosis.

You can have a blood test to learn whether you are immune to toxoplasmosis.

If you are pregnant or plan to be pregnant soon

If you do not know whether you are immune to toxoplasmosis or know that you are not immune, avoid contact with the toxoplasma parasite to protect your fetus from infection.

• Avoid cat feces, in both the home and the garden.
  • If you have a cat and you are either pregnant or planning to become pregnant soon, have someone else clean the cat litter box. If you must clean the box yourself, do it daily. The Toxoplasma eggs take 1 to 5 days to become infectious.⁶ Wear gloves and a face mask, and wash your hands afterward.
  • Make a habit of washing any table or counter surfaces that a cat may have walked across.
  • Consider keeping your cat indoors. A cat who goes outdoors is likely to become infected with Toxoplasma gondii by eating infected birds or rodents. (Eating indoor mice also poses a risk.)
  • When gardening or handling soil, wear gloves and wash your hands afterward.
  • Wash all foods that could have had contact with cat feces, including commercial fruits and vegetables.
• Eat only well-cooked or previously frozen meat. Avoid dried meats. Sustained high or low temperatures are needed to kill Toxoplasma gondii in meat.
• Carefully wash your hands and all utensils after preparing raw meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, or vegetables.
• Avoid untreated drinking water. This is a concern when you are in the wilderness or are traveling to developing countries where drinking water is not treated.

Last updated:	June 27, 2007
Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS
Reviewed By:	Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine, Gregory A L Davies, MD, FRCSC, FACOG - Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC