New RVC research identifies changing epidemiology of harmful foetal disease

A new study from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) highlights the changing epidemiology of congenital toxoplasmosis (CT), a foetal disease which affects approximately 190,000 pregnancies around the world each year, and the need for more extensive research to understand the underlying causes responsible for these changes. Congenital toxoplasmosis occurs when pregnant women become infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii ) for the first time, passing the infection to the foetus. Of the 190,000 cases of CT reported annually, three per cent of infected infants die before one month of age, sometimes before birth, and those who survive often experience problems with their vision and development. Approximately one-third of the world's human population has been exposed to T. gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis in humans and wild and domesticated warm-blooded animals. Transmission of the parasite can occur when people consume meat containing parasite cysts or raw unwashed foods, or water, containing parasites shed in the faeces of infected cats. Analysing data from more than a quarter of a million people from 19 countries, the study confirmed reports that rates of human toxoplasmosis have been declining over the past six decades in high income countries.