The doctor in Molecular Biology, Zuleima Caballero, who is also a scientist at the Institute of Scientific Research and High Technology Services (Indicasat AIP), led a research on toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in Panama.
This study showed that there is a high exposure to the parasite that infects it and that transmission is quite effective, so it is urgent to work on its prevention.
Caballero explained that toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by the Toxoplasma Gondii parasite and cats play an important role in the life cycle of this parasite. “The detail with cats is that they get infected just like us by eating food and when they hunt, however, they are not the main cause of infection, the main one is the ingestion of poorly cooked or poorly washed food, the consumption of ceviches because a high prevalence of the parasite has been found in the sea,” he said.
Galena stated that cats are not the main source of infection or transmission of the parasite. “Not all of them are infected, many of them are healthy; the detail is when a cat is infected with the parasite, it will release a form of the parasite into the environment, but for us to become contaminated there must be direct contact with feces. and that is very unlikely when we have a feline inside the house, because we usually have a little box with sand inside the house, where they defecate and hide their feces in the sand, which makes us less infected, “he said.
Sending Data…
