Toxoplasmosis - The Return of the Puppet Masters

[cassandra]

My goodness, since childhood I've known a guy with schizophrenia. When he lived with his parents, he would do weightlifting in the basement. Every year a wild cat would find her way into the basement to have her kittens.
I wonder if that's what started the trouble.

 

[ultra]

Here is interesting point of view on Toxo from Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University professor and scientist. Here, as he say they did experiments with Toxo and came to interesting observations. There is also mentioning of US Army being highly interested on Toxo's effect when in human body... http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html

Interesting, thanks. Wonder why France has really high rates of infection...

I was reading this thread, thinking of the C's mention of the possibility of extraterrestrial plague from the trail of comet Elenin - and their remark that "Smoking tobacco is a clue and an aid." - and I see that a few people were discussing this possibility back in 2006.

But the French seem to throw a spanner in the works of that one - historically they have all smoked like chimneys. Equally intriguing is the really low result for the UK. Maybe all that terrible, overcooked food had its advantages after all.

 

[Mona]

The best way to get rid of parasites is with a zapper. Read a book by Dr Hulda Clark, she has written 9 books. I have been using a zapper for the past 6 months and I have never felt better in my life. My mother who was diagnosed with limpho proliferative disorder is finally in remission as a result of using a zapper. Her white blood cell count came out normal. She actually tried many things before including the detox as described in Detoxify or Die book, she also used a far infrared sauna as well, but that did not help her until she started using the zapper. It is truly an amazing thing. Don't take my word for it, try it. I was skeptical at first because my mother tried so many things before without getting positive results, until she tried the zapper.

I hope this device will help many of you as well.

 

[EmeraldHope]

I just read about toxoplasmosis in another thread here . I had full blown version in my early 20's and had to have my lymph nodes drained. I wondered, since I am O RH negative ,was there a relation at all in the RH factor? Well it seems that RH positive and RH negative do respond differently. For one, rh negatives are prone to more car accidents because their response times slow down . There is a lot of date in there in regards to ego transcendence but I cannot make heads or tails of the charts. I thought it may be relevant here in some way so I am posting the link to the study here.

Abstract: Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite infecting 20–60% of humans in various countries, influences the behaviour of infected
animal and human hosts. Infected human subjects have changes in several of Cattell’s and Cloninger’s personality factors. Recently,
three independent studies have shown that Rh-positive subjects are protected against the T. gondii-induced changes of reaction times
and increased risk of traffic accidents. Here we searched for evidence of similar effects of RhD phenotype on toxoplasmosis- or
aging-associated changes in the personality profile of about 302 blood donors. We found that Rh-positive and Rh-negative subjects
responded differently to toxoplasmosis. In addition to the already known effects of toxoplasmosis on novelty seeking, self transcendence,superego strength and protension, we also found effects of RhD phenotype on ego strength, protension, and praxernia, as well
as opposite effects of toxoplasmosis on ego strength, praxernia, ergic tension and cooperativeness in Rh-positive and Rh-negative
subjects. Moreover, our results indicate that RhD phenotype might influence not only the effect of toxoplasmosis but also the effect
of aging on specific personality traits.
Keywords: parasite, aging, manipulation, personality, blood group, Rh factor, Cattell 16PF, Cloninger TCI, Rhesus factor, aging,
senescence

-http://web.natur.cuni.cz/flegr/pdf/cloncatrh.pdf



Also a snippet here from ask a geneticist: -http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=381

One idea is that Rh negative people may be resistant to some of the effects of the parasite Toxoplasma. This parasite can invade our body and damage the brain, especially in babies. It looks like Rh negative people may be less affected by this parasite. In areas with a lot of Toxoplasma, being Rh negative might be an advantage. The less severe effects of the parasite may outweigh the effects on pregnancy. Rh negative people may also be resistant to other viruses or parasites that we haven't discovered yet. There is still so much to be understood!

 

[Keit]

There is an article on SOTT that talks about a very interesting development in the research of Toxoplasma.
http://www.sott.net/article/260658-New-study-finds-plant-proteins-control-chronic-disease-in-Toxoplasma-infections

A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people.

The study, led by a University of South Florida research team, places the blame squarely on a family of proteins, known as AP2 factors, which evolved from the regulators of flowering in plants.

In findings published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers demonstrate AP2 factors are instrumental in flipping a developmental "switch" that transitions the parasite from a rapidly dividing form destructive to healthy tissue to a chronic stage invisible to the immune system. They identified one factor, AP2IX-9, that appears to restrict development of Toxoplasma cysts that settle quietly in various tissues, most commonly the host's brain.

A better understanding of how the switch mechanism works may eventually lead to ways to block chronic Toxoplasma infections....

"The evolutionary story of Toxoplasma is fascinating," White said. "We were blown away to find that the AP2 factors controlling how a flower develops and how plants respond to poor soil and water conditions have been adapted to work within an intracellular human parasite."

Perhaps there is nothing to it and just a coincidence, but I still found the fact that this parasite has adapted and uses a mechanism similar to plants as another good reason to lessen their consumption.

Also, I found the last sentence interesting as well:

Because it is common, complex and not easily killed with standard disinfection measures, the toxoplasma parasite is a potential weapon for bioterrorists, White added.

What a strange thing to say. Toxoplasma has been present in human population for ages, and only now they bring up the idea of bioterrorism? On the surface it seems, that it wouldn't be the first choice of the "typical bioterrorists" because it's not extremely virulent like Ebola, for example. So why mentioning it, if not for its other more insidious features of modifying its host behavior?

And, of course, this comes to mind:

A: You should know that these bloodlines become parasitically infected, harassed and tinkered with whenever a quantum leap of awareness is imminent.

Q: Whenever a quantum leap...

A: Such as "now."

Again, maybe it's just a coincidence, but coupled with the fact that this research was conducted in Tampa, Florida, and released during the talk about bloodlines, makes all of this indeed very interesting.

 

[salinafaerie]

Also, I found the last sentence interesting as well:

Because it is common, complex and not easily killed with standard disinfection measures, the toxoplasma parasite is a potential weapon for bioterrorists, White added.

What a strange thing to say. Toxoplasma has been present in human population for ages, and only now they bring up the idea of bioterrorism? On the surface it seems, that it wouldn't be the first choice of the "typical bioterrorists" because it's not extremely virulent like Ebola, for example. So why mentioning it, if not for its other more insidious features of modifying its host behavior?

I don't know if this is worth mentioning but here goes: I had a very good friend who died from toxo and his behavior was incredibly affected by the disease, to the point that he refused any medical care until they had to drag him from his house and he died two or three days later, his condition was so advanced. It could possibly be argued that anything that eats your brain away is going to affect behavior but I always suspected there was more to it than that. He was a very "tapped in" individual. FWIW.

 

[EmeraldHope]

There is an article on SOTT that talks about a very interesting development in the research of Toxoplasma.
http://www.sott.net/article/260658-New-study-finds-plant-proteins-control-chronic-disease-in-Toxoplasma-infections

A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people.

The study, led by a University of South Florida research team, places the blame squarely on a family of proteins, known as AP2 factors, which evolved from the regulators of flowering in plants.

In findings published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers demonstrate AP2 factors are instrumental in flipping a developmental "switch" that transitions the parasite from a rapidly dividing form destructive to healthy tissue to a chronic stage invisible to the immune system. They identified one factor, AP2IX-9, that appears to restrict development of Toxoplasma cysts that settle quietly in various tissues, most commonly the host's brain.

A better understanding of how the switch mechanism works may eventually lead to ways to block chronic Toxoplasma infections....

"The evolutionary story of Toxoplasma is fascinating," White said. "We were blown away to find that the AP2 factors controlling how a flower develops and how plants respond to poor soil and water conditions have been adapted to work within an intracellular human parasite."

Perhaps there is nothing to it and just a coincidence, but I still found the fact that this parasite has adapted and uses a mechanism similar to plants as another good reason to lessen their consumption.

Also, I found the last sentence interesting as well:

Because it is common, complex and not easily killed with standard disinfection measures, the toxoplasma parasite is a potential weapon for bioterrorists, White added.

What a strange thing to say. Toxoplasma has been present in human population for ages, and only now they bring up the idea of bioterrorism? On the surface it seems, that it wouldn't be the first choice of the "typical bioterrorists" because it's not extremely virulent like Ebola, for example. So why mentioning it, if not for its other more insidious features of modifying its host behavior?

And, of course, this comes to mind:

A: You should know that these bloodlines become parasitically infected, harassed and tinkered with whenever a quantum leap of awareness is imminent.

Q: Whenever a quantum leap...

A: Such as "now."

Again, maybe it's just a coincidence, but coupled with the fact that this research was conducted in Tampa, Florida, and released during the talk about bloodlines, makes all of this indeed very interesting.

This is a little off the beaten path, but I had a dream last year that referenced the Song opposites Attract by Paula Abdul. Having had full blown toxoplasmosis and going through the misery of having one's lymph nodes drained twice, when I looked up the video after the dream I found it very interesting. I am pretty visual so I have found that if I cue myself with anything auditory via System 2, I need to LOOK at it to see what else may be there.


Anyway, the video references both stairs and a staircase and time, but the woman ( Abdul) in the video is paired with a cartoon cat which at one point grabs her and moves her via her head like a puppet on a string.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xweiQukBM_k


Paula= meek and humble Abdul= Servant of God


Anyway- it was an interesting synch that may suggest something in the mass consciousness is aware in some respect.

 

[hlat]

Scientists Claim 40% of Population Infected with “Mind Control Parasite”

intellihub.com/2013/03/28/scientists-claim-40-of-population-is-infected-with-mind-control-parasite/

Recently a team of scientists made a statement claiming that up to 40% of people are infected with brain parasites that have the ability to alter human behavior.

By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
March 28, 2013

Joanne Webster, professor of parasite epidemiology at Imperial College London, explains that many parasites favor the brain, “because it shelters them from the full fury of the immune system”. But, she says, “it also gives them direct access to the machinery to alter the host’s behavior”.

The Telegraph reported that

“There is a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, which is found in domestic cats, and is estimated to infect 350,000 people a year in Britain. Its effect on humans became the obsession of Jaroslav Flegr, professor of evolutionary biology at Charles University in Prague, who linked it with disturbed behaviours such as reckless driving and a greater risk of suicide. Rats infected with Toxo, as scientists at Imperial College discovered, actually like the smell of cat urine, instead of being terrified by it. And studies at Stanford University in California have revealed the neural changes that lay behind this transformation.

Toxo – which comes in the form of tiny single-celled cysts – was clustered in two areas of the brain: those controlling fear and pleasure. Pathways that normally responded to the smell of cat urine with alarm had been damped down, while the pleasure hormone dopamine, normally released in response to female rodent urine, was now triggered by the whiff of cat. Most recently, researchers have shown that Toxo’s DNA includes two genes that boost dopamine production. Human brains have plenty of similarities with those of rats and mice, suggesting that the greater number of car crashes among those with Toxo infection could be due to it damping fear responses.”

The scientists that reported these findings are based out of the UK and they estimate that about 40% of the population in their area are infected with this parasite. The estimate that they give only applies directly to the population in the UK, but with these parasites so abundant in various different parts of the planet, it is likely that this 40% figure is just as relevant many other places world wide.


Another study, which is published in the scientific journal PLoS Pathogens, was led by Dr Barragan and conducted together with researchers at Uppsala University. Dr Barragan explained in an interview afew months ago that this is no new problem for the human species:

“We believe that this knowledge may be important for the further understanding of complex interactions in some major public health issues, that modern science still hasn’t been able to explain fully….At the same time, it’s important to emphasize that humans have lived with this parasite for many millennia, so today’s carriers of Toxoplasma need not be particularly worried.”

“We’ve not looked at behavioral changes in people infected with toxoplasma, as that’s been dealt with by previous studies,” says Dr Barragan. “Instead, we’ve shown for the first time how the parasite behaves in the body of its host, by which I mean how it enters the brain and manipulates the host by taking over one of the brain’s neurotransmitters.”

The main goal of these recent experiments is to better understand how the brain functions and how neurotransmitters communicate with each other. This research is most likely directed at developing more psychiatric drugs, as if the world needs any more of them.

While it is always a good thing to have a deeper understanding of how the human mind and body function, it is also important to keep an eye on the development of these types of studies, because there is always a possibility that they can be taken in a malevolent direction, with the intent to control populations.

As for the parasite itself, its basically harmless. It might make you a little bit crazy, but we are all a little bit crazy anyway, so no big deal.

******

 

[Palinurus]

Re: Scientists Claim 40% of Population Infected with “Mind Control Parasite”

This topic has been discussed before in this thread:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,55.0.html

Related info can be found here:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,102.0.html

 

[EmeraldHope]

This may be a long shot, but after thinking for the last day or so about this on the " Getting a "Handl" on things thread -

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,27406.90.html

I just found another Handl. It is a reference to V. Mutnansky and K. Handl in " Plasma Arc Cutting of Bridge Steels" - Bridges, Iron, and Steel

All I keep thinking is plasma "ARK'

A: You should know that these bloodlines become parasitically infected, harassed and tinkered with whenever a quantum leap of awareness is imminent. Q: Whenever a quantum leap...
A: Such as "now."

A: Even if speed of light travel, or "faster," were not possible, and it is, of course, there is no reason why an alien race could not construct a space "ark," living for many generations on it. They could travel great distances through time and space, looking for a suitable world for conquest. Upon finding such, they could then install this ark in a distant orbit, build bases upon various solid planes in that solar system, and proceed to patiently manipulate the chosen civilizations to develop a suitable technological infrastructure. And then, after the instituting of a long, slow, and grand mind programming project, simply step in and take it over once the situation was suitable.

After researching a little more into what a plasma arc and plasma window are, what also stands out to me is that the word barrier is used. That bring us back to schizophrenia, which relates to toxoplasmosis, and another session I keep thinking of in relation to this:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,24722.msg285390.html#msg285390

Q: (L) Okay. What's the next question? (Psyche) We were checking some statistics and we realized that full siblings of schizophrenics are nine times more likely than the general population to have schizophrenia, and four times more likely to have bipolar disorder. Is {name redacted} affected by this genetic tendency?

A: Oh indeed! However this requires explanation. First of all, the genetics that are associated with schizophrenia can be either a doorway or a barrier. Second, the manifestation of schizophrenia can take non-ordinary pathways. That is to say that diet can activate the pathway without the concomitant benefits

.Q: (Burma) I think that they're saying that schizophrenia could essentially be a way to be open to seeing other aspects of reality but diet can make it so it basically just makes you crazy without actually seeing anything.

A: Primitive societies that eat according to the normal diet for human beings do not have "schizophrenics", but they do have shamans who can "see".

Q: (Perceval) So a schizophrenic on animal fat is a shaman. (L) Well, wait a minute. There's something real subtle here. What I think you're saying is that when these genetic pathways are activated through wrong diet, it screws up the shamanic capacity?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) So, schizophrenia as we understand it or have witnessed it is a screw-up of something that could or might manifest in a completely different way on a different diet? Is that it?A: Yes

Q: (L) And that's what you meant by not only a doorway, but also a barrier because the person who is on the wrong diet and has schizophrenia is barred from being able to be a bridge between the worlds. They kind of get lost. They're barred from having a normal life, and they're also barred from coming back from their delusions or whatever they're seeing even if they're not delusions. Maybe they’re seeing, but they're unable to help or do anything.

Of course, I cannot help but think of bridges in the " bridge" between worlds aspect either

 

[Keit]

Today, during pharmacology lecture I heard that interferon, beside being an anti-viral agent, is being used as an anti-toxoplasmosis treatment for dogs (which is curious, since it is a protozoan parasite). Now, I don't know how it is in other countries, but here, indeed, dried and pulverized interferon is being used as an immunostimulant and prophylactic of influenza and other viral infections. For best effect it should be taken about 10 days before the potential exposure to the virus.

Last year someone recommended it to me, so before trying it out I searched the net for more info, and found out that in human medicine interferon primarily is being given intravenously to people on hepatitis C therapy, and apparently there are some serious side effects to be considered, including depression, bad sleep, hair loss, thyroid problems, ect. Well, I didn't know in what quantities it is usually being given to the people on this therapy, and obviously the effects would be stronger when given intravenously than intranasally, and considering the fact that I was constantly getting sick and searched for possible ways to boost my immune system, I decided to try it out.

There were no pronounced side effects, and nothing really serious beside slight irritation and dryness of the nasal mucous membrane. But then, maybe there were and I didn't notice, because was already pretty much restless and stressed! In any case, it seems to work, but only if it is combined with other common sense solutions as good sleep and not getting upset or taking things too seriously. ;)

But back to the toxoplasmosis. I searched the web, and found couple of papers on the topic:

Interferon y blocks the growth of Toxoplasma gondii in human fibroblasts by inducing the host cells to degrade tryptophan
_http://www.pnas.org/content/81/3/908.full.pdf

The mechanism of interferon-gamma induced anti Toxoplasma gondii by indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase and/or inducible nitric oxide synthase vary among tissues.
_http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15206721

The research is too complex for my current level of understanding, so I am not sure if interferon could or would have any effect on toxoplasma antibodies, but it seems that it does. There is the following, very detailed article, that talks among other things about interferon-y being the essential mediator of the immune response to control Toxoplasma in the brain and how it is able to maintain the latency of chronic infection.
_http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/3/745.full

It also mentions the following regarding the onset of schizophrenia:

Elevated anti-T. gondii IgG antibody levels have been reported in patients with first-onset schizophrenia,29,30 suggesting an involvement of this parasite in the etiology of schizophrenia. Elevated serum levels of IL-1β have also been detected in individuals with acute schizophrenia, but not chronic schizophrenia,31 and there were no differences in IL-1β or IL-6 serum or cerebro-spinal fluid levels in medicated patients compared with a control group.32 Because tachyzoites induce more pronounced inflammatory cytokine responses in host cells than do bradyzoites, as described above, proliferation of tachyzoites in the brain may be related to the onset of schizophrenia.

The lack of elevated IL-1β or IL-6 in medicated patients could be due to the antitoxoplasmic activity of some antipsychotic drugs.33,34 Interestingly, anti-T. gondii IgM antibody, a key indicator of acute acquired infection, is not elevated in the sera of patients with first-onset schizophrenia,29,30 implying that the patients are not in the acute stage of a newly acquired infection.

Therefore, a reactivation of chronic infection with the parasite (proliferation of tachyzoites caused by cyst rupture) in the brain might be involved in the onset of the disease. In support of this possibility, expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β and IL-6, are higher in the brains of a mouse strain in which tachyzoite proliferation occurs in this organ during the later stage of infection compared with the brains of another mouse strain that prevents tachyzoite proliferation during chronic infection.35

It is noteworthy that individuals with congenital T. gondii infection often develop ocular toxoplasmosis later in life,36 and the disease is considered to be due to reactivation of infection. The onset of toxoplasmic chorioretinitis is most frequent during the ages of 20–30,36 correlating well with the age of onset of schizophrenia.37 Therefore, congenital infection with T. gondii may be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia.

 

[Gaby]

Here is an update from a paleo blog written by Emily Deans:

_http://primaldocs.com/opinion/gluten-and-schizophrenia-again/

[...] Anyway, we already know that folks with schizophrenia have higher levels of gut inflammation (measured by checking antibodies to known infections that get into the system when there is gut inflammation or infections that actively cause gut inflammation, such as our old friend Toxoplasma gondii), and the newer the onset of illness, the more likely you are to find gut inflammation, AND the more antibodies to gluten and casein you have, the more likely you are to have these signs of gut inflammation. So Dr. Severance sought to answer some of the questions raised by this finding. Did the infection cause a gut pathology that allowed neurotoxic food fragments to attack the brain of the genetically susceptible? Were the infections themselves the problem in the brain, and the food antibodies just secondary to the infections? Well, it is difficult (not to say unethical) to do the sorts of experiments you need to answer these questions in humans, but mice can be housed and infected and their little immune systems examined in greater numbers over several generations more readily.

So the researchers took mice and gave them delicious T gondii infected rodent chow (via infected ground up mouse brains!!). They infected some adult mice and a subset of female mice who were then knocked up so they could check the pups for gut inflammation as well…there are a lot of mini-experiments in this paper and I won’t explain them all to death here, as the paper is freely available. Anyway, after infection with T gondii, serum antibodies to wheat proteins and complement activation (not a sign of well-bred mice but rather a measure of inflammation) increased in the infected groups but not in the mock-infected or uninfected groups. The anti-wheat antibodies in mouse pups born to the infected moms were also significantly higher than in those born to uninfected mouse moms.

So here we have proof, in mice, that infection with Toxoplasma, a known risk factor for schizophrenia in humans, leads to the generation of anti-gluten antibodies, presumably via a gut inflammatory mechanism. Most importantly, in the mouse pups, the anti-gluten antibodies and infection happen at a time of critical neurodevelopment. Thus the combination of infection and, perhaps, a dietary enhancer (such as, possibly, gluten) could be working in concert to make someone vulnerable to developing schizophrenia later on. The “gut inflammatory” mechanism is vague at this point. In celiac disease in humans (more associated with the anti-tTG antibodies), there is definitely gut damage and permeability. In non-celiac gluten sensitivity (more associated with AGA), there doesn’t seem to be frank leakage, but apparently large gluten peptides can cross the border via transcytosis and this may happen more readily if the gut is infected and the immune system is on the case and things…frankly the exact details of gluten and the gut continue to elude us. Check out the last paragraph of this paper (BIG HUGS):

In summary, the models described in this paper provide appropriate experimental tools to examine the impacts of gluten peptides, T. gondii and associated immune activation on brain physiology. As we accumulate more information from analyses of clinical biomarkers, we can adapt these animal models to test the effects of dietary modifications and other types of infections on behavioral endpoints, the pharmacological outcomes of specific antipsychotics on immune system parameters, and the autoimmune response responses triggered by T. gondii infection. Ultimately, we envision a translational system by which we can fully evaluate the interface of environmental perturbation and genetic predisposition as it relates to serious neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism.

[...]

Poor mice!

 

[MusicMan]

Toxoplasmosis - a parasite which enables rats to be eaten by cats.

A thought occurred to me, seeing as humans can also be infected by this parasite, that the parasite may be further enabling its own interests by making humans more amenable to the owning of pets, in particular, cats, and this in turn would give the parasite a further advantage in the proliferation of its species. It's interesting that half the human population owns cats.
There is a certain amount of symbiosis implied here.

 

[piliangie]

Cats and toxoplasmosis

Hi there, I found a video from Alex Jones, interviewing Mr Jordan Maxwell, and they where talking about Ancient Egypt, and why they worship cats, and they said is because cats transmit to human, taxoplasmosis amiba, that turn people almost like zombies, because makes you like the smell of cats, and want to keep them around you, this parasite makes you angry,irritable, this amiba programs you to have more cats and spread the infection, and one third of the population have it!! this parasite lower your IQ, and makes you a servant of the cat........wow.... ..I always have cats! so, that makes me think, that do I have to get rid of my kittys? I mean, I don't know,
I think is cruel, to give up on them, and also I have dogs, not just cats, I like animals that's all, I know that Laura asked the C's regarding this topic, but they did'nt, say to much when she asked why egyptians worship the cats, I think that if they didn't say nothing about this taxoplasmosis, is because is not relevant? does anybody know something more about these? because i feel concern about cats, If they are like transmitters from another dimension of diseases, that work against us? so sad...for the cats really , and that means I'm a zombie or what.....:(


ADMIN NOTE: Corrected spelling of "toxoplasmosis" in subject field.

 

[Keit]

Re: Cats and toxoplasmosis

Well, just in case you haven't seen it, there is a thread about Toxoplasmosis on the forum.

As for getting rid of cats because they may transmit toxoplasma...this is where it gets trickier. I don't have a good grasp on the topic yet, but apparently there is a very small window of opportunity and it has to do with the developmental cycle of the Toxoplasma gondii when it actually becomes "invasive" and a human can pick it up (by touching feces for example) and become infected. So the chances of becoming infected from cats are much smaller than from eating raw meat, for example. In fact, research shows that toxoplasmosis is rampant specifically in countries where dishes made from raw meat are a culinary delicacy.

But since it can have detrimental effect on the unborn child if an infected woman is pregnant, it is considered to be a very serious disease, and it is recommended not to touch or come in contact with feline feces during pregnancy. But again, not all feline feces are full of toxoplasma, we just can't do a coproscopy check all the time to make sure.