{"id":666869,"date":"2026-06-30T22:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/666869\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T22:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:40:21","slug":"cat-parasite-infecting-third-of-humans-is-major-cause-of-vision-loss-scientists-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/666869\/","title":{"rendered":"Cat parasite infecting third of humans is ‘major cause of vision loss’, scientists warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as a third of the world’s population could be infected with a parasite<\/a> from cats<\/a> that might lead to retina-damaging eye infection<\/a> and permanent vision loss, a groundbreaking new study warns.<\/p>\n

Although the disease, toxoplasmosis, is preventable and treatable, researchers call for it to be formally recognised as a neglected tropical disease<\/a> (NTD) by the World Health Organisation (WHO).<\/p>\n

“Toxoplasmosis is a leading eye infection and a major cause of vision loss<\/a> worldwide, yet it receives limited attention in global health agendas,” said Justine Smith, an author of the study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.<\/p>\n

“With WHO’s recognition, we can make substantial progress in prevention and management of this infection,” said Dr Smith, an ophthalmologist from Flinders University<\/a> in Australia.<\/p>\n

People may be infected with the parasite either through eating undercooked meat<\/a>, contaminated produce or water, or exposure to cat faeces.<\/p>\n

Cats themselves may get infected from eating raw meat, birds, or rodents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curbing the disease’s spread would require integration of veterinary strategies, improved farm health safety<\/a>, management of stray cats, and safe disposal of animal waste, scientists say.<\/p>\n

\"Eye<\/p>\n

Eye lesion due to toxoplasmosis infection (Jo\u00e3o Furtado)<\/p>\n

It occurs mainly in communities with limited access to healthcare, safe food, clean water and prenatal care.<\/p>\n

In most severe cases, infection with the parasite may lead to inflammation of the retina and permanent blindness, scientists warn.<\/p>\n

“Toxoplasmosis is often seen as inevitable, but it has well-characterised transmission pathways and can be prevented and controlled,” said Jo\u00e3o Furtado, another author of the study.<\/p>\n

“These impacts could be reduced through practical public health measures such as improved food safety, clean water, sanitation and better access to antenatal care,” Dr Furtado says.<\/p>\n

\"Scanning<\/p>\n

Scanning electron micrograph of the Toxoplasmosis parasite cyst (David Ferguson via Eurekalert)<\/p>\n

Researchers warn that currently there is less research funding and policy attention for toxoplasmosis than diseases with similar or lower impacts.<\/p>\n

A formal WHO recognition as an NTD would unlock funding for research, prevention and treatment.<\/p>\n

“Without this recognition, we can expect limited progress in the prevention and management of toxoplasmosis to continue,” researchers warn.<\/p>\n

\"Animal<\/p>\n

Animal health worker marking a neutered stray cat (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Addressing the disease, they say, requires collaboration across multiple fields.<\/p>\n

It would also place toxoplasmosis within the global One Health agenda, which encourages coordinated action to curb diseases across human, animal, agricultural and environmental sectors.<\/p>\n

“Our statement is a call to action to finally address the unacceptable global health burden of toxoplasmosis,” Dr Smith said.<\/p>\n

“It would support countries to integrate toxoplasmosis prevention into maternal and child health programs, food safety systems and primary care,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As much as a third of the world’s population could be infected with a parasite from cats that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[174840,59,102,223330,80994,223331,56,54,55,47868],"class_list":["post-666869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dr-smith","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-justine-smith","tag-parasite","tag-toxoplasmosis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-health-organisation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}