How likely is it to catch toxoplasmosis in pregnancy?
It is estimated that 1 in 500 women catch toxoplasmosis in pregnancy. There are currently 1 million pregnancies a year in the UK, so about 2,000 women a year will catch toxoplasmosis during their pregnancy. How likely is the baby to get toxoplasmosis? It has been estimated that only 40% of pregnant women with toxoplasmosis will pass the infection on to their unborn child. This means that about 800 babies each year are infected with toxoplasmosis. The actual risks to the baby vary and are related to the stage of pregnancy the woman is in when the infection was acquired. If the infection is caught in early pregnancy (first trimester), only 15% of babies are thought to be infected. If the infection is caught by the mother in the middle three months of her pregnancy (second trimester), then the risk of the baby being infected is 25%. The risk of transmission to the baby is 65% in the third trimester, which is the last three months of pregnancy. How will the infection affect the baby? If to
