Chain of cat feces can harm humans, sea otters

CNN ^ | February 19, 2012

[moviefan8]

ause disease in sea otters and humans alike.

A young cat can shed up to 100 million oocysts - little egg-like structures - in its feces. All it takes is one oocyst to cause an infection of Toxoplasma gondii.

Largely, the parasite is asymptomatic in humans, but it can sometimes cause problems for infants born to infected mothers - including hearing loss, mental disability and blindness. People with compromised immune systems, especially those who have HIV/AIDS, may also develop serious complications.

[pops88]

“It should be emphasized that the cute house cats shown in the photo accompanying the posted article are very unlikely to be infected with the parasite; only about one percent of cats are infected. So cat owners in general shouldn’t become overly up tight about this.”

Thank you for a voice of reason. I think journalist wake up in the morning and ask themselves, “how can we scare our readers today?” I was a NICU nurse. By my 4th pregnancy I was told not to eat cold cuts (listeria), no sushi (thank God I wasn’t Japanese), and I couldn’t touch my house cat. A beacon to brainwashing. If I lived in China I might actually heed that advice, but in over regulated U.S.A., not so much. I ate uncooked pork sausage off a pizza as a kid, and uncooked bacon once. So far haven’t developed trichinosis. Sadly, thanks to Obamao, we might have to start paying attention to these warnings as we descend into 4th world status.

[Captainpaintball]

Didn’t Aretha Franklin sing that song ?

Chain chain chain...Chain of poo...
--Urethra Stanklin

[Safetgiver]

including hearing loss, mental disability and blindness....Shiite. I thought it was just old age, but Mr. Fluffy is out to get me.

[douginthearmy]

I'm not entirely sure we can trust the objectivity of the source...

[TASMANIANRED]

It was “Chain of stools”.