This fact sheet was created in order to help keeps pets and their families together, and to keep all family members, including pets, healthy and safe. Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondi, and found in all species of animals. Over 40 percent of all Americans have been infected with the parasite at some time. Once the antibodies have entered your system, you cannot get the active infection a second time unless you are immune depressed. Rarely from an infected cat.
Cats are the only animal species to shed the infectious stage of the disease in their feces.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed no correlation between cat ownership and infection with toxoplasmosis. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that even in immune compromised individuals, such as AIDS patients, toxoplasma antibody seroconversion is unusual and appears unrelated to cat ownership. Like humans, cats are extremely unlikely to get the active infection more than once. Moreover, 24-48 hours must elapse after feces is passed before it becomes infectious. This means if litter boxes are cleaned at least daily, transmission of the infection by litter scooping is entirely preventable.