Toxoplasmosis testing during pregnancy

[RomanGoddess]

So, yesterday I found out that I'm pregnant : and now I am considering things that I am going to have done (or not) during this pregnancy.

We were in France for my previous pregnancy, where they test for toxoplasmosis systematically every month of the pregnancy. It turns out that in Italy (where we live now), they do the same thing.

Toxoplasmosis is not normally tested for in North America (to my knowledge, at least) so why here? We don't own pets, we don't have a vegetable garden, I buy my lettuce in a bag at the supermarket , so do I really need to bother with this? I got just plain fed up with it the last time around. Opinions from other moms in Europe?

[Hollycrand]

Do you HAVE to go through the test? Can you find a doctor that won't make you do it if you don't want to?

[RomanGoddess]

Originally Posted by Hollycrand

Do you HAVE to go through the test? Can you find a doctor that won't make you do it if you don't want to?

I can probably find a midwife who will not make me take it. I'm just wondering if I am missing some huge risk factor that is not present in North America but is present in Europe.

[raeinparis]

Originally Posted by RomanGoddess

So, yesterday I found out that I'm pregnant : and now I am considering things that I am going to have done (or not) during this pregnancy.

We were in France for my previous pregnancy, where they test for toxoplasmosis systematically every month of the pregnancy. It turns out that in Italy (where we live now), they do the same thing.

Toxoplasmosis is not normally tested for in North America (to my knowledge, at least) so why here? We don't own pets, we don't have a vegetable garden, I buy my lettuce in a bag at the supermarket , so do I really need to bother with this? I got just plain fed up with it the last time around. Opinions from other moms in Europe?

congratulations!

i went through it with two pregnancies. hated it! but the risk is definitely there -- it's not just lettuce, it's also meat. i think here in france most women get it before they're pregnant from very rare meat. i'm vegetarian so that wasn't going to happen. for my first pregnancy the gynae told me not to eat salads at restos...

are you sure you haven't picked it up since your first dc was born? the joke here was that i was to eat steak tartare before getting knocked up. i couldn't bear it though!

[east carolina]

They do it here in the Czech Republic, too. Must be a European thing. If I remember correctly, they just checked for it three times. You should be able to say no to it, or ask if they can just do it a couple times, just to see if the levels are going up.

Congrats!

[~ani~]

Congrats mama!

I think it is a disease that is prevalent on the European continent but not in North America. And in the Paris region it is getting rarer. My gyneco said that now less than 1/2 of pregnant women have already had it whereas 30 years ago almost everyone was immune the disease was so common... I think it is spread by birds or something? I was tested monthly too and even one last time in labor when I checked into the maternite! Avoiding and/or scrubbing the heck out of crudites and having to eat meat cooked through for all those months was definitely a pain. I have a friend who tested positive at the beginning of her pregnancy and had to take lots of abx... btw her daughter is fine