Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by a parasite of Toxoplasma gondii. Infecting this disease can be if you eat meat of an infected animal, in case of contact with feces of cats, with transfusion of contaminated blood and with intrauterine development of the fetus from a sick mother.
Congenital toxoplasmosis is the most difficult, therefore, during pregnancy, special attention is paid to the diagnosis and prevention of this disease.
Many people have suffered toxoplasmosis without even knowing it, since the symptoms of this disease are not specific enough and very often occur in mild form, disguised as a mask of other infections.
How does toxoplasmosis occur in pregnant women?
Symptoms of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy can be very different. In exceptional cases, the disease progresses violently with a strong rise in temperature, skin rashes, enlarged lymph nodes. During the illness, the heart muscle, the brain, can be affected. This is the so-called acute toxoplasmosis.
Chronic toxoplasmosis in pregnancy manifests itself as a general infectious syndrome, sometimes with the addition of lesions of the central nervous system, internal organs, eyes, genitals. The most important symptom of chronic toxoplasmosis in pregnant women is myocarditis and specific myositis .
But most often the signs of toxoplasmosis are invisible in pregnant women. And the diagnosis is made only on the basis of immunological research. The most common is a healthy carriage of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy, which is accompanied by a low level of antibodies in the blood. Carrier toxoplasmosis in pregnancy is regarded as a healthy person and no therapeutic measures are not required.
What is dangerous toxoplasmosis in pregnancy?
If before the onset of pregnancy a woman already had toxoplasmosis, then she can not infect a child. It is more difficult, if by toxoplasmosis, she already contracted during the gestation of the child. The consequences of this disease, which arose during pregnancy, can be quite severe. With the increase in the gestation period, the probability of infection of the fetus only increases. In case of infection with toxoplasmosis at the initial stage of pregnancy, a woman may have spontaneous abortion. If the pregnancy continues, the child can be born with quite severe lesions of the brain, liver, eyes, spleen.
The chance to give birth to a healthy child when infected with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy is zero. Even with normally passed births, it is almost impossible to keep the brain and full eyesight in the child.
Prophylaxis of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women
Prevention of this disease is especially important for those women who have never met with toxoplasmosis before, and, therefore, do not have immunity to it.
The main preventive measures are as follows:
- Any work with land should be carried out only in
rubber gloves. - Before consuming greens, vegetables and fruits, they should be thoroughly washed.
- It is better to free the pregnant woman from contact with raw meat products. If this can not be done, then after the process of cooking, you should thoroughly wash your hands.
- During pregnancy, one should not eat steaks with blood, unprocessed and unprocessed meat.
- A pregnant woman should not clean the cat's toilet.