It usually produces only vague, flulike symptoms, such as slightly swollen glands or a low fever . Infection causes the body's immune system to develop antibodies to the parasite that causes it, giving permanent immunity from then on. But a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy may in turn infect the fetus , with potentially disastrous results. The infection may be fatal to the fetus, causing miscarriage or stillbirth, or the fetus may survive. Some babies are infected at or soon after birth.
Some infected babies die in early infancy, but some have no obvious symptoms when they are born.
Cause Toxoplasmosis is caused by a one-celled protist parasite. Infestation with this parasite can occur in two ways. One of them is eating raw or rare meat from infected animals, foods made with raw eggs from infected chickens, or unpasteurized milk or milk products from infected cows or goats. The second way to become infested is by contact with the feces of infected cats. These contain long-lived eggs of the parasites, which can be picked up accidentally in handling cat litter or in touching contaminated soil.