Ep 39 Invasive animals and their parasites | Dr Narelle Dybing

追加: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Look, if you're around cats, chances are you've probably been exposed to it.

[00:00:03]Toxoplasma gondii is probably the the one that most people know about. They call it like the crazy cat lady disease and things like that because it's transmitted through the poo of cats cuz cats are the definitive host or the main host of this parasite. And so that's the reason why they say that pregnant ladies shouldn't clean kitty litter and stuff like that. So, yeah, it can cause a lot of congenital problems as well in babies. They can cause blindness, brain swelling, and things like that. And we can also get it from cats, but also from ingesting meat cysts that haven't been cooked properly and things like that or what not washing vegetables properly.

[00:00:36]Right.

[00:00:37]>> Wow, okay. How common is that? It's reasonably common. It's across the world. Who would be most likely be coming across it? Um If they're like around cats? Look, if you're around cats, chances are you've probably been exposed to it. So, you might have the antibodies to it. So, if we have really good immune system, then we should be able to kind of um counteract that. But when people are like pregnant or sick, their immune system is obviously low, so they're more um susceptible to infection by a lot of these things. Again, which is why they say during pregnancy, don't um change the kitty litter.