Gardening-toxoplasmosis

WannaBAmama · May 2012

Did your doctor warn you about toxoplasmosis pertaining to gardening? I was planting flowers this weekend and my friend at work just reminded me that you're not supposed to be working with soil while pregnant due to the risk of toxoplasmosis. Ugh. I didn't even think about that.

From what I read it seems like the only way soil would be contaminated is if a cat uses the soil as a litter box? I know it seems unlikely, but it said there's a 5-6% chance of severely hurting the baby if I got infected. Plus theres no signs of infection in the pregnant woman.

I totally sound like a freak, my friend was kicking herself for telling me that since she knows it'll worry me.

Were you told to avoid working in soil? would you worry about it? Flame away, I know I probably shouldn't be worrying.

numberonemama · May 2012

Awesome! Now I'm freaking out! All because of my stupid neighbors and their stupid cat! (I don't care for these neighbors if you can't tell)

I have never heard this and no one ever warned me! I have spent hours in the dirt this pregnancy!!

I will try not to think about it or google it for that matter.

Sharon&Paul · May 2012

The risk is low, but does exist. Just make sure you wash your hands good after gardening or if you need added protection wear gloves. I plan to garden this weekend.

cwm11985 · May 2012

In order to contract toxoplasmosis, you have to ingest it. So, don't eat the soil. Problem solved!

WannaBAmama · May 2012

cwm11985:
In order to contract toxoplasmosis, you have to ingest it. So, don't eat the soil. Problem solved!

So anyone who got toxoplasmosis from a litter box has eaten cat poop? grooooossss!!!

JessaPrimate · May 2012

The spores can become airborne in dried out feces. It's not just poor hygiene.

MCSnyder09 · May 2012

I was warned about this so I've just been wearing gardening gloves and washing my hands afterwards.

I was actually infected with toxo at age 20 (while in college), it caused one of the lymph nodes in my neck to swell up & it never went down. I had surgery to get it removed. Come to find out after it was taken out that it was toxo that caused the infection.

But that said, while in college I didn't have any pets although I did spend time at my boyfriends house and they had a feral outdoor cat. I never cleaned the litterbox there (cat didn't have one) so the doc's best guess was that I contracted it from petting the cat or if it scratched me. It's definitely not always hygiene related.

Not telling my story to scare anyone, my case was very rare. Just be sure to not clean up cat poop & for gardening my recommendation would just be to wear gloves and wash up afterwards.

skyejo · May 2012

This will get me out of laying dirt this week in our huge garden. Score.

srs5624 · May 2012

skyejo:
This will get me out of laying dirt this week in our huge garden. Score.

This is exactly how my OB approached the subject.

The odds of contracting toxoplasmosis are slim. Very slim. But if you want, wear gardening gloves (or latex gloves to clean the litter box). Wash your hands regardless.

If you want to get out of some chores or want your H to clean the litter box, they'll give you some literature.

jessican08 · May 2012

Please don't freak out about this. My Ob/Gyn didn't mention a thing about it.

Just make sure you wear gloves and then wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.

MrsAngel2008 · May 2012

FYI to everyone reading this, you can get tested for toxoplasmosis. If you've been exposed prior to becoming pregnant, then you're in the clear because you're now considered immune (approx. 20% of the population is immune). So if you have cats or do a lot of gardening, ask your doctor for a blood test.

This was one of the first things I did when thinking of TTC, since I have cats & volunteer at a cat shelter. I still wear gloves and wash my hands when dealing with litter boxes & working in the garden, as a general hygiene precaution, but knowing my immunity status was reassuring.

limpetfan · May 2012

I wasn't told to avoid gardening. I was told to avoid gardening with my bare hands. I have several huge raised beds, so I went out and bought waterproof gardening gloves. I also make a point to cover up all possible skin when I'm doing something in the soil. My doctor was totally fine with those precautions.

If you do see a cat near your garden, though, I would definitely ask someone else to investigate what is going on before you work with that area again.

MississippiCatfish · May 2012

limpetfan:

I wasn't told to avoid gardening. I was told to avoid gardening with my bare hands. I have several huge raised beds, so I went out and bought waterproof gardening gloves. I also make a point to cover up all possible skin when I'm doing something in the soil. My doctor was totally fine with those precautions.

If you do see a cat near your garden, though, I would definitely ask someone else to investigate what is going on before you work with that area again.

I think this is the key!

melody921 · May 2012

JessaPrimate:
The spores can become airborne in dried out feces. It's not just poor hygiene.

This. You don't have to be sucking on your fingers.

WannaBAmama · May 2012

I will be avoiding gardening from now on, but I am a little worried about the gardening I did this weekend. I used gloves while picking the weeds out but I took them off when I was digging holes and planting flowers. I did wash my hands really good afterwards but my 2 year old son was "helping" me and getting potting soil everywhere! I felt like I was breathing in the potting soil the whole time.

Aussiemummy · May 2012

I love to garden so I've been wearing gloves. But I've pulled out a few weeds and not worried about putting the gloves on.

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