Pre-Pregnancy Tests

[Carissa]

We've been TTC now for 18 months and about 21 months ago (3 months before we started TTC), I had all the usual tests done, Rubella, HIV, HepB etc etc.

My question is, should I get re-tested given the passage of time??? :smt119

Thanks for any advice.

[Astrolady]

Hi Carissa. They will do it as standard anyway if you fall pregnant. But if you know you are safe in all that regards then I wouldn't worry about getting it all checked again. Just my thoughts

Love :smt049

[Carissa]

Thanks Kathryn.

How are you going? You must be getting excited!

[Astrolady]

Yeah doing well Carissa. Found out I am going to be having this one early son only a couple of weeks to go instead of 5

Love :smt049

[Scarlett]

Just curious if anyone has been tested for toxoplasmosis. I did and was not immune, which suprised me as I have had cats all my life who hunted a lot and lived outdoors so I just assumed I would have been infected. Also when I was studying parasitology at uni they told us that most people are already immune to this parasite so I was wondering if that is really the case?

[{sarah}]

Sorry Scarlett, I have never been tested. Like you I have had cats around all my life, but I thought if you got toxoplasmosis you would know it? I have already told DH that he can clean out Bea'rs litter tray when I get pregnant to avoid it altogether.

[Scarlett]

Hey sarah, if you get toxo as an adult you get flu like symptoms (i think, am dredging up 3rd year uni stuff here) so you wouldn't know. It's not a problem for adults as the parasite forms little cyst like things in tissue notably the brain and then just sort of sits there. Because adult brains are fully formed it's not a problem but when brain tissue is forming as in a featus it is a huge problem. Upside - my DH has to do the cat litter to even though we are still trying. He HE HE

[christy]

I was tested for toxo and was negative as well, which I found really unusual as I have been a vet nurse for 5 years and handled many cats with toxoplasmosis and their litters!! But... no, negative. Which goes to show how hard it is to get anyway...
To get it from animals, they have to have the disease and they only secrete it 14 days after infection in their faeces. Then the spores take 24 hours to develop in the poo... so it is hard to get the perfect timing.

!!!BUT!!! That shouldn't stop you from being cautious!! I stopped cleaning litter trays and handling unknown cats as soon as I found out I was pregnant. DH has had to clean our own cats litter for the whole time, even though our cat doesn't have toxo and the only way for him to get it is eating rats or other animals faeces with it, and he doesn't go outside!
I should be more worried about our dogs licks than our cats litter tray...

So...be cautious, but don't think you can't handle your cat at all right now!

Christy

[BellyBelly]

LOL I have to share something my Ob told me about toxoplasmosis as I was worried in my first preg - he said, "I can test you for it but you really have to suck on cat's poo to get it!" Oh I could have died right there!!! LMAO...

[{sarah}]

LOL Kelly!! No more sucking on cat poo anymore!!!

Thanks for all the info guys. Although I hadn't asked the question I was curious about what toxoplasmosis does to you & how you get it.

[Scarlett]

lol - no more cat poo for me.

Toxoplasma is an intracellular parasite that lives in many tissues including muscle but has a particular fancy for brain tissue. Sexual reproduction occurs inside the cells in the intestinal lining of felines. Immature oocysts (kinda like eggs) are release into the intestine of the cats and excreted in their faeces. They mature and if ingested by a domestic animal or human things called tachyzoites penetrate the lining of the small intestine and lodge in tissues. When they are found in large enough numbers they form small cysts. The development of cysts also allows immunity to new infection to be developed. Thus if you are infected prior to pregancy you will not pick up a new infection and your baby wont be at risk. The risk to the featus comes if an infection occurs during pregnancy and the cysts develop in tissues being formed - e.g the brain. The parasite is able to cross the placental barrier from the mothers blood to the featus's.

In terms of how you get it - you need to ingest the oocyst so if you get cat faeces on your hands and then on your mouth you may pick it up. You can also get it from eating the cysts if they are in meat that hasn't been cooked properly as a cow or sheep etc may have eaten the oocyst and have cysts in their muscle tissue.

Basically it's not a problem in adults unless the infection becomes chronic, in which case you can see blindness, heart damage and pneumonia depending on where the cysts are located, but these cases are really really rare.

Hope that answers your question sarah without being too technical.

[{sarah}]

Wow Scarlett thanks for that