To understand whether that’s true, you may benefit from a little background information. From the parasite’s perspective, cats are much preferable to any other animal because it can multiply very rapidly in the feline gut. About a week after the initial infection, massive quantities of toxoplasma cysts—eggs, basically—begin to be released into the stool (and thus into your local litter box). At that moment, there is, actually, a great potential for infection of other individuals if reasonable precaution is not taken. It could happen by consuming a (microscopic) particle from the litter box. This is perhaps a repellent concept but is utterly harmless for the vast majority of human beings, as toxoplasmosis infections have next to no impact on their health. Pregnant women, on the other hand, can suffer real consequences—damage to the fetus causing birth defects or pregnancy loss. Severely immuno-compromised people, such as HIV/AIDS patients, chemo patients, and people who have undergone an organ transplant, could also become terribly ill. Does this mean that pet cats are too dangerous for expectant mothers and people with subpar immune function?
Surely not all cats pose a threat. Only a tiny, tiny proportion of them are contagious at any given time; perhaps they could be distinguished from the harmless ones with a test of some kind. For this reason, it’s relatively commonplace for at-risk pet owners to seek out lab testing from their veterinarian. In fact, there are numerous tests that can be used to reveal the current stage of disease and approximate transmission risk, but… it’s just so darn easy to protect yourself and your unborn child from toxoplasmosis that none of those tests are needed.
Catching this disease from a cat can only be accomplished by eating food or otherwise putting your hands in your mouth after handling his feces… not by inhaling litter box dust, not from touching the pet’s fur, not from being licked by an overly affectionate feline at 4AM (that’s breakfast time, right?!) It’s really so simple. Just wash your hands after scooping the box. Try to scoop at least once a day, because the eggs need a minimum of 24 hours exposure to air before becoming infectious. Wear disposable rubber gloves, if you’d like. Reusable dishwashing gloves aren’t recommended, because you will still need to touch their outside (contaminated) surface with bare skin as you pull them on and off. Buy disposable box liners if you wish. The simplest solution of all, however, is one that is often overlooked—transferring litter box duties to a non-pregnant member of your household.
Dr. M.S. Regan