The number of infectious diseases in veterinary medicine is enormous. One of the infectious diseases widespread among domestic animals is toxoplasmosis.
The disease is caused by intracellular parasitic organisms that have a negative effect on the body of all types of mammals. But domestic cats are carriers of toxoplasmosis.
The danger of infection is that it can be transmitted from animals to humans and cause serious complications, especially in the body of unborn fetuses in the womb.
Description of the causative agent of toxoplasmosis
The causative agent of toxoplasmosis in domestic cats is T. Gondii. This is an intracellular parasite, classified as unicellular in structure. It is highly resistant to environmental factors and can be placed on any surface.
Domestic cats are the definitive host, while humans are considered an intermediate host. Intermediate hosts also include domestic dogs, farm animals - large and small livestock, birds and even rodents.
The main route of infection is direct contact of a healthy animal with feces and food products contaminated with oocysts. Transmission of the pathogen is also possible through drinking water.
Parasites are able to remain throughout the entire life cycle of a mammal in all tissues. Metabolic processes are gradually disrupted, spontaneous abortions occur in females, and kittens are born with deformities or those unable to survive.
Prevention
Despite the severity of the lesion and the speed of spread of the disease, consequences most often do not occur. And in order to avoid infection, you must constantly remember about preventive measures and follow them:
- If raw meat products are used in feeding pets, they must be thoroughly frozen. Either using the shock method (up to minus 40 °C), or in household freezers, but not less than three days.
- Treating raw meat with gamma rays can help, but in our country radioactive disinfection of products is practically not used.
- The cat's litter box must be cleaned daily, thoroughly washed and disinfected.
- For cats walking on the street and eating caught rodents, it is necessary to establish an important ban - the corpses of pests cannot be brought into the house.
- It is advisable to take PRC tests with your pet’s feces annually for Toxoplasma.
- Cats should not be allowed to be present, or at least not near food when preparing food for humans.
- Strictly control blood transfusions to your pet, and do not allow them to be from an untested donor.
- Carriers of toxoplasmosis are also cockroaches, fleas, mites, and earthworms. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the house clean and prevent these pests from appearing.
- Vaccinate your cat annually against all possible viral infections, regularly deworm and treat for external parasites.
Microbiologists have not yet invented a vaccine against this severe parasitic disease of domestic animals and humans. But effective laboratory samples of the T-263 strain already exist. They are obtained from mutated bradyzoites isolated from the tissues of a sick cat.
Clinical trials are underway. It was noted that individuals who received the drug orally cease to secrete oocysts and they develop immune protection to infection with Toxoplasma gundi.
The experimental vaccination is recommended for use on both sick and healthy pets. Its use is excluded for pregnant females and newborn kittens.
Ways of infecting a cat with toxoplasmosis
Domestic cats most often become infected with toxoplasmosis by eating infected birds and rodents. In birds and mice, oocysts are located in tissues. Once in the stomach, the cysts are cleared of their membranes, and the parasite itself actively penetrates the intestinal mucous membranes. In veterinary practice, there are several stages of toxoplasmosis:
- subacute;
- spicy;
- chronic.
Each stage is characterized by its own type of flow. So, in the subacute form there are practically no symptoms. The acute stage of toxoplasmosis manifests itself with a pronounced clinical picture, and in the chronic form, symptoms occur in various organs from time to time.
The insidiousness of toxoplasmosis is the tendency of the pathogen to spread throughout the body. This results in the immune system being unable to attack the parasite normally.
Signs of toxoplasmosis in cats can include a variety of symptoms. The degree of manifestations directly depends on associated factors. The main signs of toxoplasmosis in a cat are indigestion, refusal to eat, discharge from the nasal passages, and eye damage. The cat may develop diarrhea and severe weakness. Severe cases of toxoplasmosis are accompanied by damage to the central nervous system.
Clinical picture
Despite the fact that this disease is one of the most common and severe, outwardly a cat can get sick very easily, sometimes even in a latent form.
The lesion usually occurs as follows and with accompanying symptoms.
From the moment of infection until the end of the next 21 days (usually within 3-10), the cat excretes unsporulated oocysts from the body along with excrement. At the same time, the sick animal itself has practically no symptoms. Sometimes isolated cases of short-term diarrhea occur, alternating with normal excrement.
Then, depending on the individual characteristics of the pet’s immune system, the following signs may or may not develop:
- fever and increased body temperature - up to 41 ° C;
- lethargy, apathy, refusal to eat;
- shortness of breath and difficulty breathing;
- thickening of the lymph nodes;
- dyspepsia (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea);
- hepatitis;
- eye diseases (most often anterior uevitis);
- damage to the nervous system (ataxia, convulsions, paralysis).
Veterinarians note that most often it is eye lesions that occur, from uevit to complete blindness, without other accompanying symptoms.
All these clinical signs may be present (or not) from a couple of days to many months.
Any internal organ can be infected with cysts, and then, accordingly, the clinical features of the pathology are varied.
The danger of human infection with toxoplasmosis
As the main hosts, cats carry toxoplasmosis and can infect humans with it. In addition to an infected cat, eggs and meat products that have not undergone heat treatment become sources of human infection with toxoplasmosis.
In most cases, in a person with good immune protection, toxoplasmosis occurs without a pronounced clinical picture. There may be a slight malaise, signs of a cold. In more severe cases, headaches are observed and regional lymph nodes become enlarged. Possible damage to the heart, liver or central nervous system. But a particular danger of infection with toxoplasmosis lies in the infection of pregnant women. An infection received from a cat with toxoplasmosis provokes a number of serious disorders during pregnancy:
- the birth of weak babies;
- the birth of premature or non-viable children;
- onset of premature labor;
- self-abortion;
- the birth of babies with congenital deformities.
The intracellular parasite has the ability to easily pass through the placental barrier and infect the embryo, provoking dangerous changes in the formation of brain structures.
Examination of newborns and young children
Aimed at early detection of the pathogen, before the onset of the acute phase of congenital toxoplasmosis and the development of severe complications. Prescribed when there is a suspicion of Toxoplasma infection, includes the following tests:
- Isolation of the parasite by inoculating material from the placenta and umbilical cord into living mice.
- Carrying out PCR analysis of amniotic and lumbar fluids.
- Computed tomography or MRI of the head. Allows you to identify specific changes in the brain, for example, hydrocephalus, at an early stage.
Serological techniques are also used, but they provide only additional information. The newborn’s immune system is not active enough and is often unable to produce a sufficiently high titer of specific antibodies.
Symptoms of toxoplasmosis in a cat
Since cats are the main and not intermediate hosts, toxoplasmosis is most often asymptomatic in them. Toxoplasma is released into the environment along with feces. It should be understood that intracellular parasites are excreted in feces only once during the entire period of infection over several weeks. If a cat is re-infected with toxoplasmosis, the infection will no longer be released into the environment.
From the moment of penetration of the pathogen until the first signs appear, about 14-20 days pass. The main signs of toxoplasmosis in a cat with good immune defense are:
- digestive disorders - short-term diarrhea or constipation;
- apathetic states;
- the appearance of nasal discharge.
After some time, toxoplasmosis will cease to manifest itself, and the disease itself will become chronic. The immune system of a healthy cat is able to cope with toxoplasma, but in the case of a weakening of the body’s defenses, other symptoms, more severe, develop.
In the case of an acute form of toxoplasmosis, damage to the central nervous system and the occurrence of inflammatory processes in the area of the choroid of the visual organs cannot be ruled out.
What causes the disease
Toxoplasmosis is a dangerous parasitic endemic disease widespread throughout the world.
It can affect humans, many wild and domestic species of mammals, and birds. Cats, including natural species, are an important link in the epidemiology of this disease, as they play the role of definitive hosts of cysts.
The pathology is caused by the protozoa Toxoplasma gondii, first discovered in the North African rodent of the same name.
For the first time, infection of a cat was described in specialized literature only in 1942, and the life cycle of Toxoplasma - in 1970.
A thorough knowledge of this cycle is necessary in order to have an idea of the possible routes and timing of human infection from pets.
Also read about toxpolasmosis in humans.
Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in cats
Due to the blurred clinical picture, an accurate diagnosis can only be made in laboratory conditions. Fecal samples must be provided for research. A blood test from a vein is also necessary.
From the moment of taking the tests to receiving accurate results, it takes from 5 to 10 days. Serological studies, ELISA and PCR are carried out. The main diagnostic tests for suspected toxoplasmosis are:
- Toxoplasmosis complex – necessary to determine the stage of the pathological process. It is especially important to conduct this type of research for cats during the period of bearing kittens. Just like in humans, toxoplasmosis leads to damage to fetuses in the womb.
- Polymerase chain reaction is necessary to identify the DNA of Toxoplasma material located inside the body.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the veterinarian develops treatment tactics.
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Read further:
Analysis for toxoplasmosis in humans and cats: where and what tests to take, prices, explanation
Can toxoplasmosis be transmitted sexually?
Eye toxoplasmosis: symptoms of retinal damage, treatment methods
Are vaccinations against toxoplasmosis given to humans, cats and dogs?
Roundworms in the intestines: signs and symptoms of infection, methods of treatment and removal
Toxoplasmosis: who is the causative agent, microbiological properties and characteristics
Treatment of toxoplasmosis in cats
At home, it is not possible to determine the presence of toxoplasmosis based on the manifestations of the clinical picture. As well as prescribing adequate therapy. Moreover, precise treatment regimens for pathologies caused by intracellular parasites have not been developed. It will not be possible to quickly and easily get rid of toxoplasma in a cat’s body.
Complex treatment of toxoplasmosis includes the use of antimicrobial agents and drugs that suppress the development of oocysts. As auxiliary elements of treatment, anti-inflammatory drugs and medications are used to eliminate associated symptoms, for example, to eliminate signs of intoxication.
Treatment at home
A confirmed diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in a cat means that the animal must be treated. The main goal is to transform the disease into a chronic form. If there are children, pregnant women or other mammals in the house, they must be isolated from contact with the sick animal.
Toxoplasmosis can be treated at home, but only by strictly following the instructions of your veterinarian. Specialists, as auxiliary means, prescribe vitamin-mineral complexes and immunomodulators, which help strengthen the body's defenses to fight infection. It is very important to provide the animal with proper care:
- Do not give your cat raw foods that have not undergone heat treatment;
- regularly ventilate the room and carry out wet cleaning with disinfectant solutions;
- Clean the cat's litter box every day, and also treat the container that serves as the cat's litter box with a special ammonia solution 2-3 times a month.
Examination of patients with HIV infection
Diagnosis consists of regular monitoring of immunoglobulin G titers using serological methods. Titration of immunoglobulin M is not informative since in most HIV-positive people the level of antibodies of this group is extremely variable.
Direct detection of the pathogen by microscopy of tissue samples or infection of laboratory animals is usually not necessary. The diagnosis can be established quite accurately through serological diagnosis and the presence of a specific clinical picture of toxoplasmosis. In HIV-positive patients it is more pronounced, which greatly simplifies the diagnosis.
