Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease that is spread by cats and other small warm blooded animals. It can also be spread by eating undercooked pork, lamb and meat of game animals.

Symptoms of toxoplasmosis vary according to the site of infection. Infection with toxoplasma gondii may not produce any symptoms at all or may cause flu like symptoms such as pain in muscles, tiredness, lymph node swelling etc. These symptoms of toxoplasmosis may be present for a few days or for some weeks.

Acute toxoplasmosis

In acute toxoplasmosis, you may feel headaches, body and muscle aches, fever, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes of armpits or groin. Since these signs of toxoplasmosis are not very serious, people usually ignore them and they subside in a few weeks or within a month if you are healthy and a have a properly working immune system.

Chronic toxoplasmosis

If reactivated, toxoplasmosis can be life threatening. If you have a compromised or weakened immune system symptoms of toxoplasmosis may become very serious. The immune system may become weak due to infection with HIV/AIDS and other disorders of the immune system. It is also compromised in individuals receiving chemotherapy or who had received a recent organ transplant. The symptoms of toxoplasmosis in such patients can range from mild headache to seizures.

Cerebral toxoplasmosis

If toxoplasma has infected your brain, you may experience toxoplasmosis symptoms of headache, confusion, fever, seizures etc. Brain infections have an important part in the disease process.

Brain infection can also cause patients to be more courageous as the sense of fear is diminished and people who have brain toxoplasmosis are also prone to be involved in road traffic accidents due to reckless driving and speeding.

Bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia are also some of the diseases that are said to have been caused by toxoplasmosis in some patients. Even though the role of toxoplasmosis in mental illnesses is not very clear but many studies suggest the presence of some relationship. Behavioural changes are also quite common in patients with cerebral toxoplasmosis.

Ocular toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis symptoms that appear in the infection of the eye are blurred vision, loss of sight and dark spot in the visual field. Toxoplasmosis is the leading cause of blindness and so special care should be taken if you suspect you have toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis in lungs

If lungs are infected, the symptoms of toxoplasmosis that develop include symptoms of breathlessness such as those in pneumonia or tuberculosis.

Cutaneous toxoplasmosis

Symptoms of toxoplasmosis if skin is infected usually present as maculae which are punctuate and echymosed. These lesions may also present as roseola and erythema multiforme-like cysts and eruptions.

Jaundice and enlarged spleen and liver may also be found as toxoplasmosis symptoms.

Toxoplasmosis in newborns

Babies whose mother has toxoplasmosis will also be affected by the disease. They may develop blindness, mental retardation, deafness, spasticity, jaundice, seizures and severe eye impairment.

If you have been exposed to the parasite and you develop any symptoms of toxoplasmosis, you should consult your doctor immediately because toxoplasmosis can turn into a serious disease and you may suffer from seizures or left with permanent blindness.