[Ansteorra] Cats could make you crazy

Hugh & Belinda Niewoehner BurgBorrendohl at valornet.com
Fri Jul 29 11:46:02 PDT 2011


Ok, I'm not a scientist, put it appears that if you wash those clothes, 
etc. you remove whatever small chance of getting infected in the case 
that your cat /might/ be carrying this.  Since the majority of people 
get this from eating raw meat (and I'm guessing that's where cats get 
this, too) I think I'd be more concerned about cooking my meat and 
washing my veggies and especially practicing good personal hygiene, than 
petting a cat which most likely is not carrying this disease according 
to statistics.

If you live in an environment where feces (urine is annoying but not a 
source for this) is everywhere you may die of something else before this 
gets you anyway.  In part of this study which I didn't quote  they 
listed the areas where humans have been infected with Britain having 20 
to 30 percent of their people having been infected at some time in their 
lives and yet France and Germany was 80 percent.  Since all of these 
countries have cats, my/theory/--not scientific fact--is that this 
supports the findings that people are more likely to become infected 
from eating undercooked meat.  You can not get a well done piece of beef 
in France for all the euros in the world.  Germany has gotten better 
about that we noticed--perhaps because of this?

So...

Clean up all feces (cat or otherwise) and then wash hands thoroughly.
Don't eat raw meat.
Wash your veggies.
Cover sand boxes when not in use in case a stray cat (or mole or rat) 
that/might/ be carrying this comes by.

love your pets whatever they may be.

Ismet

On 7/29/2011 1:13 PM, Ld.blackmoon wrote:
> greetings
>
> if I'm reading this correctly , then someone who is in constant 
> contact with feline feces, and isn't good about removing all traces of 
> said feces, ( lack of thorough washing , of effected clothes and 
> eating / cooking materials and surfaces is at a higher risk of 
> infection , especially if they are already on drugs for other things , 
> including other mental issues ?
> what are the means of transference from human to human if any ?
> the article also states that hygiene ( in all things ) ( washing 
> surfaces,utensils, clothes, hands etc. thoroughly ) is the best way to 
> reduce chances of infection .
> but I couldn't find anyplace that suggested a course of action ( if 
> any ) for anyone who finds themselves in such a high risk condition , 
> ( lots of cats that roam in and out freely, clothing and personal 
> belongings  that smell strongly of cat urine and feces,all the time, 
> and may or may not thoroughly clean cooking utensils and surfaces  ) , 
> does anyone know what should be done in such cases ? or if anything 
> should be done in such cases ?
> weird minds want to know : )
> Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
> Arthur
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hugh & Belinda Niewoehner" 
> <BurgBorrendohl at valornet.com>
> To: "Angus MacKnochard" <glnn_jhn at yahoo.com>; "Kingdom of Ansteorra - 
> SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 11:23 AM
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Cats could make you crazy
>
>
> You site your studies, I'll site mine :-) .  Life is dangerous.  There
> is much more information on the site (including tons of references):
>
> http://www.fabcats.org/cat_group/policy_statements/toxo.html
>
> Other animals, including humans, are intermediate hosts of /T gondii/.
> These hosts can become infected but do not produce oocysts. Oocysts
> passed in a cat's faeces are not immediately infectious to other animals
> and must first go through a process called sporulation which takes
> between one and five days, depending on the environmental conditions.
> Once sporulated, oocysts are infectious to cats, people and other
> intermediate hosts and can survive in the soil or water for prolonged
> periods (up to 18 months) even in extreme weather conditions.
> Intermediate hosts become infected through ingestion of sporulated
> oocysts, and this infection results in formation of tissue cysts
> (bradyzoites) in various tissues of the body. Tissue cysts remain in the
> host for life and are infectious to cats, people and other intermediate
> hosts if eaten. Dogs (and perhaps other animals) can also transport
> sporulated (infective) oocysts and spread these to other places if they
> eat the oocysts and then pass them in their faeces where they remain
> infective.
>
>
> What are the sources of infection for people?
> In most cases, people become infected via one of two routes:
>
>    * Ingestion of oocysts from the environment eg, through contact with
>      soil containing sporulated oocysts. This can also occur indirectly
>      through eating contaminated fruit or vegetables.
>    * Ingestion of meat containing tissue cysts. Fresh meat is most
>      risky since freezing meat for several days will kill most tissue
>      cysts.
>
> Other routes of infection are less commonly implicated but include:
>
>    * Ingestion of sporulated oocysts through contact with contaminated
>      water
>    * Ingestion of raw (unpasteurised) goats milk can transmit the 
> organism
>    * Inhalation of sporulated oocysts on dust particles (extremely rare)
>
> Does contact with a cat increase the risk of infection?
> Recent research indicates that contact with cats does not increase the
> risk of /T gondii/ infection of people. These studies have shown that:
>
>    * It is rare to identify cats shedding oocysts in their faeces.
>      Thus, a recent survey found that while 24 percent of 206 cats had
>      antibodies to /T gondii/ indicating prior infection with this
>      agent, oocysts were not found in the faeces of any of these cats
>      (Hill et al 2000).
>    * Veterinary surgeons working with cats are no more likely to be
>      infected with /T gondii/ than the general population including
>      people not in contact with cats (Behymer et al 1973, Sengbusch &
>      Sengbusch 1976, DiGiacomo et al 1990).
>    * Contact with cats has no influence on the probability of people
>      having antibodies to /T gondii/ (antibodies develop following
>      infection) whereas consuming raw meat significantly increases the
>      risk of acquiring this infection (Flegr et al 1998).
>    * Stroking a cat will not spread infection from cats to people
>    * Even when cats are shedding oocysts in their faeces, oocysts
>      cannot be found on their coat (Dubey 1995).
>    * Studies performed in dogs have shown that oocysts do not sporulate
>      on their fur (Lindsay et al 1997) and it is likely that the same
>      is true in cats.
>    * Cat ownership does not increase the risk of toxoplasmosis in
>      people suffering from AIDS (Wallace et al 1993). Although people
>      with AIDS are generally at an increased risk of clinical disease
>      relating to /T gondii/ infection, this results from reactivation
>      of previous infection rather than acquiring new infection from
>      their cat or other sources.
>    * The risk of infection from cats is very low except in young
>      children playing in soil contaminated with sporulated oocysts.
>      Most people are infected through ingestion of undercooked meat --
>      especially goat, mutton and pork (Wallace et al 1993).
>    * It is generally believed that infection cannot be transmitted by a
>      bite or scratch from an infected cat.
>    * Studies suggest that previously infected cats needing treatment
>      with immunosuppressive drugs at standard doses, do not start
>      shedding oocysts in their faeces (Lappin et al 1992).
>    * Studies also indicate that cats previously infected with /T
>      gondii/ do not re-shed oocysts in their faeces if they become
>      immunosuppressed due to infection with feline immunodeficiency
>      virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) (Lappin 2001).
>    * Furthermore, cats with FIV or FeLV that are subsequently infected
>      with /T gondii/ do not appear to shed oocysts for any longer or in
>      any greater numbers than other cats (Lappin et al 1996, Dubey &
>      Lappin 1998).
>    * Newer strains of /T gondii/ have been identified that are highly
>      infectious with infection being efficiently passed between
>      intermediate hosts (species other than cats). Consequently, some
>      scientists think that cats are becoming less important in the
>      spread of this infection.
>
>
> How can the risk of transmission of toxoplasma from a cat to its owner
> be reduced?
> Toxoplasmosis is particularly severe in certain 'high risk' groups of
> individuals (see 'What is toxoplasmosis' section). Although the risk of
> transmission of infection from a cat to its owner is very low, this can
> be reduced further and/or its consequences minimised by adopting the
> following recommendations:
>
>   1. People in 'high risk' groups should not have contact with the
>      cat's litter tray. Where possible, only non-pregnant and
>      immunocompetent people (ie, not those people with diseases or drug
>      therapy suppressing their immune system) should handle cat litter
>      trays (following all of the guidelines below).
>   2. Empty litter trays daily so that oocysts do not have sufficient
>      time to sporulate (become infective) while in the litter tray.
>   3. Wear gloves when handling cat litter and wash hands thoroughly
>      after cleaning the litter tray.
>   4. Use litter tray liners if possible and periodically clean the
>      litter tray with detergent and scalding water (which kills
>      oocysts) eg, fill the litter tray with boiling water and leave for
>      five to 10 minutes before emptying.
>   5. Dispose of cat litter safely. For example, seal it in a plastic
>      bag before putting it with other household waste.
>   6. Cover children's sandpits when not in use to prevent cats using
>      them as litter trays.
>   7. Feed only properly cooked food or commercial cat food to your cat
>      to avoid infection.
>   8. Washing hands after contact with a cat (especially before eating)
>      is a sensible hygiene precaution.
>   9. If very concerned, ask your vet to check your cat's toxoplasma
>      titre (antibody test for exposure to /T gondii/):
>         1. Cats with a positive titre have been infected in the past
>            and will not be a source of infection in the future as they
>            have completed their period of oocyst shedding.
>         2. Cats with a negative titre have not been infected with /T
>            gondii/ in the past and are likely to shed oocysts in their
>            faeces for a short time if they become infected in the future.
>  10. The risk of acquiring infection can be minimised by:
>         1. Avoiding feeding raw meat to the cat to reduce the risk of
>            /T gondii/ infection (see point 7 above).
>         2. Keeping the cat indoors to prevent hunting and access to
>            intermediate hosts such as moles and mice.
>
> How can the risk of transmission of toxoplasma from other sources be
> reduced?
> These measures are essential in all 'high risk' groups of people (see
> above) and are also sensible routine hygiene precautions:
>
>   1. Gloves should be worn when gardening and hands thoroughly washed
>      after contact with soil which may contain sporulated (infectious)
>      oocysts.
>   2. Gloves should be worn when handling food to prevent exposure to
>      oocysts and tissue cysts. Hands should always be washed thoroughly
>      afterwards.
>   3. Fruit and vegetables should be thoroughly washed before eating to
>      remove any oocysts present on their surface.
>   4. All food preparation surfaces and utensils should be cleaned with
>      detergent in warm water before and after use to inactivate any
>      tissue cysts.
>   5. Meat should be cooked to a minimum of 58°C for 10 minutes or 61°C
>      for four minutes to kill the tissue cysts (Dubey et al 1990).
>      Microwaving is not a safe way to kill tissue cysts as the heating
>      is uneven. /T gondii /oocysts can remain infectious when stored in
>      a refrigerator (4°C) for up to 54 months (Dubey 1998).
>   6. Freezing meat at --12°C to -20°C for three days kills tissue cysts
>      as does curing or smoking (Dubey 1988, Lunden and Uggla 1992).
>   7. Gamma irradiated food is free from any risk of infection.
>   8. If drinking a non-mains water supply, boil or filter before
>      drinking to remove oocysts.
>
> Why is toxoplasmosis in the news so much at the moment?
> Over the past 10 years, much research has centred on the possible
> behavioural effects of /T gondii/ on infected people and animals. Some
> of these studies have involved psychomotor tests on people, whereas
> others have looked at experimental infection of rodents in the
> laboratory. The human studies have yielded some interesting results but
> these should be interpreted with caution because of the often small
> numbers of people studied and their different backgrounds. All of the
> studies have compared people who have been exposed to Toxoplasma with
> those that have not and have used this as a basis for explaining any
> differences between the two groups of people. However, other factors may
> well have been responsible for some of the changes. For example, one
> study involving 857 Czech military conscripts (Flegr et al 2003)
> reported decreased IQ and verbal intelligence in /T gondii/-exposed
> individuals whereas a second study found that /T gondii/-exposed
> pregnant women were more intelligent (Flegr & Havlicek 1999). These
> conflicting results raise the question as to whether Toxoplasma exposure
> was responsible for any of the documented behavioural changes.
>
> /T gondii /infection has also been implicated as a cause of slower
> reaction times (Havlicek et al 2001) making individuals more at risk of
> road traffic accidents (Flegr et al 2002). Both of these studies
> involved relatively small numbers of people and results should be
> interpreted cautiously. The authors reported that:
>
>    * /T gondii/-infected people had slower, more prolonged reaction
>      times and were more likely to have an accident than uninfected 
> people.
>    * The risk of having a car accident was highest in those people with
>      the highest /T gondii/ antibody titre.
>
> Behavioural changes have been documented in mice infected with /T
> gondii/ (Hrda et al 2000, Webster 2001) although changes reported in
> animals cannot necessarily be extrapolated to humans.
>
>    * Infected mice are less active and this is most noticeable when
>      infection is at its peak (peak of development of tissue cysts
>      inthe brains of the mice). These behavioural changes may make
>      affected mice more vulnerable to predation by cats thus passing
>      the infection on.
>    * The behavioural changes identified were transient -- disappearing
>      by week 12 post-infection.
>
> Infected mice have increased levels of dopamine in their brain and
> toxoplasmosis has been suggested as a possible cause of schizophrenia in
> man (Flegr et al 2003) although evidence that this is the case is
> currently lacking.
>
> Conclusions
> The risks of acquiring toxoplasmosis from a cat are extremely small and
> most people are infected through other routes (such as eating
> undercooked meat). Simple everyday hygiene measures can be taken to
> reduce the risks of infection (from cats and other sources) making it
> safe to own and enjoy owning a cat.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/29/2011 10:40 AM, Angus MacKnochard wrote:
>
>> All of this talk of Animal Hording reminded me of this article.
>>   Recent epidemiologic studies indicate that infectious agents may 
>> contribute to some cases of schizophrenia. In animals, infections 
>> with Toxoplasma gondii can alter behavior and neurotransmitter 
>> function. In humans, acute infection with the cat virus "T. gondii" 
>> can produce psychotic symptoms similar to those displayed by persons 
>> with schizophrenia. Two other studies found that exposure to cats in 
>> childhood was a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia.
>> Since 1953, a total of 19 studies of T. gondii antibodies in persons 
>> with schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders and in 
>> controls have been reported; 18 reported a higher percentage of 
>> antibodies in the affected persons; in 11 studies the difference was 
>> statistically significant.
>>   http://schizophrenia.com/prevention/cats.html
>>
>>
>> Angus MacKnochard Bagadur
>> ANDA GDH
>> KSCA
>> CSS LXVIII,
>>
>>
>> snerta er vald
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