T. Gondii - Most of Us Have It!
T. Gondii - Global
T. gondii – a Parasite Most People in the World Have It!
T. gondii May be Deadly
Toxoplasmosis Gondii (T. gondii) only recently has been determined to have deleterious effects upon humans. People who have their immune systems weakened by anything such as organ transplants, AIDS, LUPUS, and many autoimmune diseases may experience serious effects or death.
Individuals undergoing chemotherapy and infants may develop severe toxoplasmosis. Severe toxoplasmosis may result in damage to the eyes or brain. Infants becoming infected before birth can be born retarded or with other mental or physical problems. Babies infected while still in the womb may show no symptoms at birth, but develop symptoms later in life.
How Do You Get T. gondii?
Most people get T. gondii from eating under cooked meat. However, T. gondii MUST live inside a cat’s digestive system to reproduce. Babies can get T. gondii from their mothers.
In addition, T. gondii may be acquired from drinking water from wells, municipal water, milk, chickens, cows, birds, or any warm-blooded animal.
Cleaning cat litter boxes may be a source of T. gondii infection. The entire feline (cats, lions, cougars and etc.) animal classification may be carriers. They deposit onto the ground in their feces. See:
http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/3144-jaroslav-flegr-a-manipulation-hypothesis.html
How Do you Eliminate the Possibility of Getting T. gondii?
Good personal hygiene will prevent being infected with T. gondii by performing the following:
- Wash your hands (cat fecal matter to mouth)
- High risk groups (with diseases or drug therapy suppressing their immune system) should not have contact with a cat litter tray.
- Stay away from feral cats.
- Empty cat litter trays daily (wear gloves)
- Use boiling water 5 – 10 minutes to clean cat litter box
- Do NOT flush! (Chlorine does not eradicate T. gondii)
- Wash fruits and vegetables
- Meat should be cooked to a minimum of 137 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or 150F for 4 minutes to kill the tissue cysts (Dubey et al 1990).
- Do NOT rely on using microwaves… Microwave ovens do not heat evenly! Microwave are not a safe way to kill T. gondii!
- T gondii can remain infectious when stored in a refrigerator (39 F) for up to 54 months (Dubey 1998).
- Freezing meat down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 days will kill T. gondii
- Curing, or smoking also will eradicate T. gondii
- Gamma irradiated foods will be no infectious from T. gondii.
In researching for my book, “Eyes Wide Shut: An Enigma,” I was made aware T. gondii may be in our drinking water and oceans. I will discuss this in another HubPages article.
See Related Articles:
http://dallas93444.hubpages.com/hub/What-Does-Cats-have-To-Do-With-It
http://dallas93444.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-the-Big-Deal-T-gondii-Changes-Human-Behaviors