Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, in children and in adults. Symptoms and treatment of toxoplasmosis. Is toxoplasmosis dangerous during pregnancy?

What is taxoplasmosis? Symptoms, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis in adults, children and pregnant women.

• Toxoplasmosis is a complex disease caused by parasites toxoplasmes. The final owner of these parasites is a cat. However, the intermediate carriers of the toxplams can act as a person and other animals
• To date, about half of the population of the entire globe is infected or is a carrier of toxoplasm
• Some of them do not even suspect such unpleasant inhabitants in their body. Such an infection is more common in third world countries with a low standard of living and income

Ways of infection with toxoplasmosis

As mentioned above, a cat acts as the owner of the parasite, but on the way to his owner, toxoplasmes can go through many animated and inanimate objects.
A person is able to become infected with this disease as follows:

• through the contact of dirty hands with a face after cleaning in the garden or yard (specifically particles of the earth with the mouth)
• through a cat toilet
• through eating raw or undersized meat, eggs
• through the eating of unwashed vegetables or fruits that have contacted infected earth
• through contact with the mouth of the hands holding the raw, undercooked, unfamiliar or unfinished infected meat
• through blood transfusion or organs tracket
• through contact with infected blood of animals or humans during analyzes
• when processing meat of a sick animal through a cut or scratch
• inheritance from mother to fruit

• The fact is that parasites can be in meat, intestines or excrement of animals infected with them. When a pet (cat) goes to the toilet, its feces may contain toxoplasm larvae, which easily get into the human body through the contact of unwashed hands with the face
• In addition, a person can be infected with toxoplasmosis by eating rabbits, pork, lamb or veal. These animals have the opportunity to become infected with parasites through grass that grew on the ground, into which the excrement of other sick animals fell
• In the same way, a person himself can bring an infection by touching his mouth with his hands smeared into infected earth, or eat poorly washed plants and fruits from such an earth

Toxoplasmosis in adults: symptoms and signs

In an adult, only acquired toxoplasmosis can be diagnosed, since the congenital would show himself in childhood or at birth.

Toxoplasmosis in adults can have three forms:

• chronic
• acute
• latent

The latent form of the disease, as a rule, proceeds absolutely asymptomatic, and it is possible to identify it only when the tests are passed. A person can be a carrier of toxoplasm for years and even for decades, and not even suspect it.

The acute form of toxoplasmosis is the least common disease. It occurs only in 0.2 % of patients. As a rule, these are patients with severe immunodeficiency or other autoimmune diseases (HIV).

The incubation period of the acute form of toxoplasmosis can be from five days to three weeks.

The main signs of the acute form of the disease are as follows:

• fast fatiguability
• fever and chills (muscles and joint pain)
• headache
• lymphadenopathy
• changing the forms of the liver and spleen
• hepatitis
• encephalitis or meningoencyfalite
• endocarditis and myocarditis
• maculopalulus rash
• pneumonia
• temperature rise
• vomit
• problems with eyes (inflammatory processes in the retina and vascular shell of the eye, clouding of the lens)

In general, the acute form of toxoplasmosis in its symptoms resembles poisoning. Such an unpleasant condition can last about a week. After this time, acute toxoplasmosis, as a rule, goes into a chronic form.

Chronic toxoplasmosis mainly proceeds almost the same as the latent form of the disease. That is, there are no obvious symptoms and signs.

However, this happens in moments of remission. During the aggravation period, the presence of the following symptoms can be stated:

• long -term increase in body temperature to 37.5% (moreover, it is impossible to knock down a temperature of any antipyretic)
• memory deterioration
• nervousness, irritability, mood swings
• unreasonable fears
• susceptibility to light and sound
• sleep deterioration
• lymphadenopathy
• pain in the abdominal cavity
• nausea
• constipation
• vegetes -vascular dystonia
• calcifications
• diseases of the endocrine system

All of the listed features often appear from two weeks to two months after infection.

Tokpoplasmosis in children: symptoms and signs

• The acquired toxoplasmosis in children has all the same manifestations as in adults. Congenital toxoplasmosis is very dangerous
• If a woman in the early stages was diagnosed with toxoplasmic infection, then she, as a rule, is recommended to have an abortion
• If the infection occurred at a later date, it is possible that a child can be born with some uglings and pathologies

Such complex manifestations of the disease include:

• strabismus
• blindness
• horiooretinitis (inflammation of the vessels and retina of the eye)
• epilepsy and cramps
• the abscess of the brain
• mental disorders
• violations of coordination of movement
• spinal cord damage
• hydrocephaly (large head and small body)
• calcifier in the cerebral cortex

According to statistics, children with congenital toxoplasmosis did not live until the age of five several years ago. Today, scientific discoveries and the development of medicine allow you to deal with a congenital toxoplasmosis and even completely cure children.

It is important to know that only the fruit that was in the womb of the mother can become infected with toxoplasmes. All subsequent pregnancies of an infected woman will be successful, since antibodies to the disease will be developed in her body.

Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women: symptoms and signs

Most often, toxoplasmosis in pregnant women does not show itself. A woman feels the same as an infected pregnant woman.

However, in some cases, chronic or acute forms of the disease can be manifested by the following symptoms:

• high body temperature
• raw on the skin
• increase in the lymph nodes
• myocarditis
• myositis
• damage to the brain
• defeat of the central nervous system
• diseases of internal organs
• vision problems
• diseases of the genitals

Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis

Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis, as a rule, occurs through a number of studies: serology, ultrasound and computed tomography.

The last two diagnostic methods can already identify the consequences of toxoplasmosis. But to determine the presence in the body of the parasites themselves or their trace of being in it, a serological method is used.

For serological studies, blood is taken from a vein.

During the analysis, the presence of antibodies or immunoglobulins (IG) to the parasites of toxoplasmes is revealed. If the infection has entered the human body, then it immediately begins to defend himself and produce special antibodies that can neutralize the virus.

So serology determines the presence or absence of such immunoglobulins in the human blood.

Analysis for toxoplasmosis in pregnant women

An ideal option is considered when a woman will pass a number of tests for the presence of a blood toxoplasmosis virus in the process of preparing for pregnancy.

• Then it will be possible to identify whether she has ever contacted this kind of infection or not. If antibodies are detected in the blood, then a woman should not be afraid of anything, since even contact with toxoplasmes during pregnancy for her
• But if there were no such immunoglobulins in her analysis, then she should be careful and follow all the rules of the prevention of the disease (they will discuss them later)
• If the woman’s pregnancy is unplanned and serology was not carried out the day before, then an analysis for TORCH infections will be assigned to her already in the first trimester of pregnancy
• Such an analysis is able to detect active antibodies in the blood of a pregnant woman, indicating acute infection in the body, or antibodies indicating that a woman has encountered toxoplasmes even before pregnancy and has immunity
• If in the process of research a woman’s infection was discovered, an additional analysis can be prescribed after two to three weeks
• Such an analysis will give an exact picture of the time of infection and what can be expected from the virus. In parallel with re -analysis of infection, the study of amniotic fluid (amniocentesis) is carried out for the presence of infection in the fetus

The amniocentesis is carried out by introducing a thin needle through the front abdominal wall of the mother and the fence of the amniotic fluid into the fetal bladder.

In addition to the procedure for studying amniotic fluid, additional ultrasound of the fetus and detection of pathologies in its development may be prescribed.

Deciphering tests for toxoplasmosis in pregnant women. The norm of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women

During serological studies in the body of a pregnant woman, two types of _ IgG and IgM immunoglobulins can be found.

• IGM antibodies found in the blood of women indicate an infection of a woman with toxoplasmes. Such immunoglobulins begin to be produced in the female body two weeks after infection. For a couple of months, their number first grows rapidly, and then goes to zero
• The presence of IGG antibodies in the blood suggests that the woman’s immunity came across toxoplasm viruses and overcame them. The presence of such antibodies can remain in human blood for several years
• If during the study antibodies of both type were identified, then such a situation may indicate a disease of toxoplasmosis during the previous twelve months. In this case, a woman is prescribed an additional analysis - for aviation antibodies

• The higher the avidity of IgG antibodies (more than forty percent), the less likely that a woman was infected with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy
• This rule applies in cases where the presence of both antibodies were found during the analysis in the first trimester of pregnancy
• If the avidity of the IgG immunoglobulins is below the indicated indicator, then the analysis, as a rule, is decided to repeat after a couple of weeks
• So immediately to diagnose infection with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, doctors do not dare. Only after the second study, in a situation where IGG aviation has remained quite low, we can talk about infection of an already pregnant woman
• If the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in a pregnant woman has been confirmed, it is prescribed amniocentesis and PCR to exclude the fact of infection of the fetus. PCR is a polymer chain reaction that can identify the presence of infection in the fetus. If the PCR is negative, do not worry - the baby is not infected

Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, consequences for women

As a rule, toxoplasmosis during pregnancy does not carry a particular danger to the future mother. More worth fear for the baby.

There are times when a woman during infection experiences all the most complex symptoms of toxoplasmosis. However, this happens very rarely and cure it from this disease is much easier than preventing irreversible processes in the development of the fetus.

Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, consequences for the child

Unlike the mother, the baby is most susceptible to the development of various kinds of pathologies and complex diseases.

• The greatest risks occur when women infected with toxoplasmosis directly during pregnancy and on her eve. In these cases, with timely diagnosis of the disease, most doctors may insist on termination of pregnancy
• Statistics claim that almost one hundred percent of infected pregnancies in the early stages ended with miscarriages or fatal outcomes at a later date
• The fact is that this disease can be treated, but drugs used for treatment are so strong that their effect cannot but affect the development of the fetus. That is why the situation is too complicated and contradictory
• If the infection occurred at a later date, there is a slight probability that the infection will not spread to the fetus. There are times when women with toxoplasmosis in the late stages give birth to absolutely healthy children. However, there are more sad examples

Treatment of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, adults and children

• Only acute form of the disease is subject to treatment in adults toxpolasmosis
• With latent and chronic toxoplasmosis, special treatment is not required
• As a rule, sulfonamide preparations paired with chloridine and delegil are used for healing from this ailment.
• In parallel, a course of antibiotics of the tetracycline group may be prescribed
• If a defeat of the central nervous system is observed, the doctor can prescribe glucocorticoids
• In almost all cases, patients with toxoplasmosis show a course of immunomodulators, vitamin complexes and antihistamines
• With very complex acute manifestations of the disease, a course of chemotherapeutic drugs (Delagil, Fansidar) can be prescribed
• As a rule, the course of treatment of toxoplasmosis is carried out in two stages - the first - ten days, then a break of ten days, and again ten -day treatment
• Treatment of pregnant women should start at the end of the first trimester - after the twelfth week
• Often, pregnant women are prescribed sulfadiazine and pyrimetamine
• The same group of drugs applies to children as adults, only in other dosages

Prevention of toxopalasmosis in pregnant women

• As mentioned above, for reinsurance, it is advisable to take an analysis for the presence of immunoglobulins to toxoplasmes in her blood even before conception. This will reveal the presence of antibodies, thereby reassuring the future mother
• If only IGG antibodies were found in the blood, a woman can calmly continue the usual lifestyle without fear of infection. Her pet can also continue its carefree existence
• If a woman in the body does not have antibodies to toxoplasmosis, she should be more careful. If a cat lives in her apartment, it is advisable to take her samples for parasites
• If the analyzes show the absence of toxoplasmes, then the cat should carefully care for the cat: do not give raw or undergone meat, not to be released into the street, to exclude contact with other animals

If in a cat parasites were found, a pregnant woman is better off limiting her contact with the animal as much as possible. In some cases, doctors are advised to generally remove the cat.

It is also not recommended during pregnancy to start a new pet. But if you already want to get a little happiness too much, you must first take samples from him for the presence of a virus in the body.

In any case, what the blood tests of a pregnant woman would not be, she should follow a number of rules in order to avoid infection with toxoplasmosis:

• eat only finished meat
• all products before use should be thoroughly washed
• wash your hands regularly
• to work in the garden or yard use gloves
• transfer the obligation to clean the cat toilet to one of the households

How to treat toxoplasmosis: tips and reviews

No matter how developed modern medicine is, and no matter how effective the treatment of toxoplasmosis is, it is best to avoid infecting it by complying with the rules of personal hygiene and the advice of doctors.

This applies to a greater extent pregnant women and children. After all, this is the most vulnerable category of the population. In addition, the treatment of this category is associated with a number of difficulties and contraindications.

In addition to all these methods of prevention of toxoplasmosis, a person needs to strengthen his immunity:

• eat properly
• eat enough vitamins and beneficial trace elements
• do sport
• sulking
• spend more time in the fresh air

Video: toxoplasmosis