The parasite, known as Toxoplasma gondii, can cause infectious damage to the human body and some animals. This disease is called toxoplasmosis. The parasites that cause it are unicellular organisms that have a fairly complex development cycle.
Infection pathways
Many people know that cats are carriers of the disease. It is because of this that some people are afraid to touch them and try to avoid in every way. But the danger is only cat feces, it is in them that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is located. You can also become infected if you eat raw meat from animals that have been affected by this disease. Another way of transmission is blood transfusion from a sick person to a healthy person. Also, intrauterine infection of the fetus from a sick mother can occur. But with mother's milk, toxoplasmosis is no longer transmitted.
Cats can become infected by eating sick animals. After all, its carriers can be birds, rodents. Pets can become infected by eating raw meat from other animals. Cats are the final owners of parasites, it is in their intestines that the toxoplasma begins to multiply, microorganisms are released into the environment along with feces.
Man is only an intermediate host of parasites. Once in the body, Toxoplasma gondii can circulate in the blood, deposited in the muscles, brain, eyes and other tissues. They destroy cells and form cavities in them - cysts or pseudocysts. They can also form calcifications - parasites are saturated with calcium salts.
Symptoms of the disease
The final diagnosis can only be made after laboratory tests. If Toxoplasma gondii antibodies are detected in the blood serum , then we can say that the person is definitely sick. The danger of the disease lies in the fact that it is often asymptomatic. Therefore, people simply do not know that they may have toxoplasmosis. Symptoms in humans can occur only in rare cases. As a rule, this happens to those people whose body is weakened by another disease.
So, you can suspect something was wrong if:
• axillary lymph nodes are enlarged , they can be felt - they resemble round dense formations;
• the temperature rises - it is usually subfebrile, but sometimes it can reach a mark of 39 degrees;
• pain is felt in the region of the right hypochondrium, while examination shows that the size of the liver and spleen is increased.
The disease may be accompanied by weakness and muscle pain. But in most cases, the disease does not manifest in any way, its acute phase is asymptomatic in a couple of weeks.
Types of Toxoplasmosis
Doctors distinguish several varieties of the disease. So, as a result of the examination, a specialist can diagnose congenital, ocular, common, cerebral, acute toxoplasmosis, and the disease also affects the central nervous system. Each of the subspecies of the disease has its own characteristics. Knowing them, the doctor may suspect a particular
toxoplasmosis. Symptoms in a person, say, with a cerebral type of disease can be as follows:
• headaches, weakness;
• loss of sensation in certain areas of the body;
• sensation of goosebumps;
• paralysis.
Sometimes with toxoplasmosis of the brain, a person can fall into a coma. The development of this kind of pathology is possible in people with weakened immunity, it is diagnosed, as a rule, in patients with AIDS, in cancer patients after chemotherapy and other diseases.
In some cases, ocular toxoplasmosis is diagnosed. Photos of people suffering from such problems do not allow to identify this disease. It manifests itself in pains and a feeling of "fog" in the eyes, a decrease in visual acuity, and sensations of outbreaks. Sometimes an infection can lead to complete loss of vision. Most often, eye damage is a manifestation of the congenital form of this disease.
In people whose immunity is weakened by chemotherapy or AIDS, common toxoplasmosis may occur. Symptoms in a person immediately make themselves felt. After all, with this form of the disease, the heart muscle and lungs are affected. Vital organs become inflamed and may stop functioning. This may even cause death.
Pregnancy problems
Gynecologists recommend all expectant mothers to check if they are sick with a disease such as toxoplasmosis. Symptoms in a person, as a rule, are not expressed, so a pregnant woman may not even know that she has become infected. Of course, if the expectant mother was ill before the conception of the baby, then the disease no longer poses a danger to the fetus. And infection during pregnancy can lead to sad consequences. The most dangerous infection in the first trimester is considered.
Thus, infection with toxoplasmosis can cause miscarriage or death of the fetus in the uterus. In addition, babies infected in the womb may die soon after birth. If the child was able to survive, then toxoplasmosis can cause irreparable damage to his health. Photos of such children are different, because the disease causes a number of congenital malformations. So, the consequences of intrauterine infection include:
- inflammation of the retina and small vessels inside - chorioretinitis (may cause blindness);
- deafness;
- increased size of the spleen and liver;
- red nodular rash over the body;
- jaundice, in which the sclera of the eyes, mucous membranes and skin of the baby change color;
- disproportionate size of the head of the newborn: it may be too small or, conversely, large;
- a delay in the development of the baby.
The course of the disease in adults
If a person with normal immunity gets infected with toxoplasmosis, then the disease, most likely, will not manifest in any way. He may feel some weakness for several days, and the temperature may rise to subfebrile values. But such a condition is unlikely to lead anyone to the idea that it is necessary to pass an analysis for toxoplasmosis.
If a woman became infected before pregnancy, then the baby is not in danger. To find out the approximate period of infection, special tests will help. To do this, a doctor may recommend passing a few titers during a blood test. For example, antibodies to IgG toxoplasma say that the infection has been transmitted for a long time, and immunity is developed to it. But the IgM titer indicates that the disease has appeared in the body recently. So, these antibodies appear approximately 2 weeks after infection and gradually decrease over three months to normal values.
The body’s natural struggle
When the parasite Toxoplasma gondii enters the human body, the immune system cannot remain indifferent. It recognizes a foreign object and begins to produce special substances aimed at suppressing it. These are immunoglobulins, or antibodies. Each of the subspecies is susceptible to only one antigen; they recognize it and combine with it. Thus, the immune system fights infection, and IgG antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii remain in the blood for a long time, and sometimes all their lives.
That is, the presence of these immunoglobulins only indicates that there was once an infection in the body, but at the moment there is immunity to it. In principle, this is the answer to the question of what does Toxoplasma gondii mean in analyzes. Even if they are found during pregnancy, it makes no sense to panic. On the contrary, the presence of IgG antibodies and the absence of IgM indicates that the infection occurred a long time ago, and the expectant mother developed immunity. And this means that she will not be able to re-become infected during the gestation of the baby. Therefore, the child in such a situation is not in danger.
Diagnosis of the disease
To determine if anti Toxoplasma gondii is present in the body, it is possible with the help of venous blood tests. This serological method is based on the fact that the presence of antibodies to infection is determined in serum. For a comprehensive diagnosis, it is better to check all immunoglobulins for the specified disease. For example, the absence of Toxoplasma gondii lgG does not mean that the person is absolutely healthy. These antibodies are not produced immediately. In this case, it is important to determine if the IgM titer is elevated. If this indicator is too high, then the infection occurred only a few weeks ago. Since the first contact with the infection, no more than 3 months have passed. But if it is within normal limits, in combination with normal IgG values, then the person most likely has never had Toxoplasmosis.
Infection over the past 12 months may be indicated by the fact that class G antibodies to toxoplasma in combination with IgM titers are present in the blood serum. But sometimes even this information is scarce. It is important for doctors to determine how firmly antibodies can bind to antigens. The sooner the body encounters an infection, the higher this ability will be. Experts call these properties of binding to antigens avidity to toxoplasma.
At the same time, it is difficult to say exactly what the level of antibodies should be, because different laboratories have their own normal indicators. They are always displayed in research results. Only a doctor should evaluate the results of the analysis, who will not only know how much the obtained data differ from the norm, but also understand what IgG and IgM titers mean.
It is also important to be able to interpret avidity for toxoplasma during pregnancy. If it is high and makes up more than 40% by the end of the first trimester, then infection of the future mother during the gestation of the baby can be excluded. But even low avidity does not mean that the infection occurred recently. In this case, it is recommended to retake the analysis after a couple of weeks to determine how the indicators have changed. Based on this dynamics, it will be possible to draw certain conclusions about the prescription of infection.
Pregnancy studies
To exclude the possibility of intrauterine infection of the crumbs, it is necessary to examine expectant mothers. This is usually done at the end of the first trimester. This period was not chosen by chance, because infection is considered the most dangerous in the first three months. Even if the expectant mother becomes infected at a later date, it will not be so dangerous for the health of her crumbs.
But even if it was found that in a pregnant woman in the acute phase of toxoplasma, antibodies are found in the blood serum, this does not mean that she must have an abortion. Although in the first trimester, doctors usually insist on this procedure.
In addition to antibodies, avidity is determined. If all the results are disappointing, and everything indicates that the infection occurred after the conception of the baby, then it makes sense to examine the amniotic fluid.
This is the most reliable method for determining whether there is a risk of intrauterine damage to the baby. If the expectant mother has a positive toxoplasmosis test, and an increased level of IgM antibodies has been determined, then the doctor will recommend PCR diagnostics. To do this, puncture the abdomen and amniotic fluid is collected. It is examined to see if it contains Toxoplasma parasite DNA. If the amniotic fluid is clean, then talking about a possible infection of the fetus makes no sense: the baby is healthy, even if antibodies to toxoplasma were found in the mother.
Alternative diagnostic methods
Rarely enough, in some forms of the disease, experts recommend, in addition to blood tests, other studies. They are needed for accurate diagnosis of a variety of a disease such as toxoplasma. Antibodies can be detected in any of its types.
To assess the extent of infection in the body, you can use computed tomography or magnetic nuclear resonance. These studies allow you to identify foci of inflammation in the brain, if there is a suspicion that the infection affected this particular organ.
Rarely enough, a biopsy is used to accurately establish the diagnosis. This is an analysis in which a portion of diseased tissue is taken and examined in detail under a microscope.
Disease prevention
Despite the fact that for people with normal immunity this disease is not scary, it is important to know how to protect yourself from it. You need to remember about prevention, in order to never know how toxoplasmosis manifests itself. Symptoms in a person can be lubricated, but in rare cases, the disease can lead to serious consequences.
One of the main precautions is to limit contact with wild animals, especially birds and rodents. It is also important not to try raw meat, minced meat. Such products must be processed at a temperature of at least 77 degrees. When caring for cats that are hosts for these parasites, it is advisable to avoid direct contact with their stool. After cleaning the toilet, wash your hands thoroughly. Usually, these measures are enough to never know how toxoplasmosis can occur. Do not forget about personal hygiene - thorough washing of hands before and after the toilet, before and after cooking.
If you have cats at home, make sure that they do not touch your products, do not walk on tables. Indeed, in this case, it is impossible to exclude the ingress of microorganisms from the anus of the animal onto your food.
Many consider it completely unnecessary to wash vegetables, fruits, berries and herbs. In most cases, people rinse the products purchased on the market, but the happy owners of personal plots prefer to eat fruits directly from the garden or tree. But you can’t exclude that they could get an infection from birds or rodents.
Also, do not forget that toxoplasmosis can be infected with unprotected sex. Therefore, it is preferable to use barrier methods of contraception during pregnancy. Both male and female condoms are suitable for this.
Treatment
Speaking about the need for therapy, many forget that in most cases it is only possible to identify the titer of Toxoplasma gondii IgG (positive). And this means that the disease went unnoticed by the person himself. And only as a result of research it was possible to identify that the patient was already ill, and he developed immunity. It is not necessary to treat detected IgG antibodies. Many people mistakenly believe that if the doctor does not prescribe drugs to identify these immunoglobulins, then he simply does not want to deal with them. This is an absolutely wrong point of view. Such results are only evidence that the body has already overcome the infection and should no longer be infected.
The need for treatment arises only in some cases when an elevated level of IgM antibodies is detected. So, therapy becomes mandatory for people with weakened immunity. After all, the body is not able to develop enough antibodies to fight pathogens. Also, to prevent infection of the fetus, pregnant women who have been diagnosed with an acute form of the disease are treated. Particular attention is paid to babies who are infected in utero. Doctors do everything possible to prevent the development of complications in crumbs.
But before prescribing treatment, it is important to clarify which antibodies were identified. Therapy is necessary only in cases where elevated IgM titers are detected, and this is displayed on the well-being of a person. Therapy is carried out using several antibacterial agents, choosing the most optimal treatment regimen.
If the disease has become chronic, then the drugs do not have the desired effect. In such situations, drug treatment is usually aimed at strengthening the immune system.
To neutralize the acute phase, a drug such as Pyrimethamine is used (it is also available under the name Daraprim). It must be taken with a course selected by the doctor. The specialist may recommend drinking the tablets 4 weeks continuously or take several approaches for 10 days. This remedy is prescribed in combination with a drug such as Sulfadiazine. As a rule, for adults it is recommended to take the medicine “Pyrimethamine” in a dosage of 25 mg, and “Sulfadiazine” - 1 g 2 times a day.
In addition to these funds, the drug "Clindamycin" can be prescribed. It is taken in addition to the above.
Pregnant women who become infected after conception are prescribed Spiramycin. The action of this drug is aimed at reducing the risk of transmission of the infection in a vertical way - from a sick mother to the fetus.
Eye lesions that arose due to intrauterine infection of the baby should be treated with glucocorticosteroids. For this, the drug "Prednisolone" can be used. It alleviates the condition with chorioretinitis.
If Toxoplasma gondii IgG is positive, then there is no point in treating the disease.Therapy should be aimed at alleviating the patient's condition. But this is necessary if the disease caused some damage to the nervous system, brain, eyes, heart, lungs or other organs.