
For any of you in the childbearing age range, something I would recommend doing before you get pregnant is getting a Toxoplasma titer run at your doctor's office. Toxo is a protozoal parasite that you can get from eating undercooked pork or cat poop (after it's sat for at least 14 hours). It's a very common parasite, so 50% of Americans are already immune to it, since they were exposed and their immune system took care of it (so they were never sick and never knew they were exposed). As a pregnant woman, you worry about being exposed because it can lead to miscarriage. However, if you have a positive titer (antibodies) to Toxo, you will know you are immune and not have to worry about it. I should also mention that not all cats have it and it usually just comes from them just eating a rodent, so keeping a long-term cat indoors only, it would be very rare for them to have it or be infective.
I mention all this because I never had my titers run last pregnancy and always worried about exposure to cat poop. This pregnancy, I just went ahead and got it run. I also got my Parvo titers checked at the same time, since I'm exposed to children at Cyrus' daycare (it causes fifth disease in children and can cause problems for fetus, including death). Interestingly, Americans are also 50% immune to the parvovirus without knowing they were exposed as kids.
So, the results are in! In an interesting twist, I am immune to Parvo, but I am NOT immune to Toxo. The research shows that vets and animal care-takers are not more likely to be exposed to Toxo than everyone else, but I felt sure I would have been after all the cat-fostering I'd done. Anyway, I will continue to be careful around the litter box and in the yard (you can get exposed doing yard work due to cat poop in the soil). I'll admit I'm surprised, but at least now I know.
-Shirin

