NHS Suffolk and North East Essex - Your Pregnancy Booklet

32 Toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is an infection caught by direct contact with cat faeces (poo), contaminated soil or contaminated meat. Most people don’t realise they have it, but it can cause flu like symptoms and it can harm your unborn baby. Pregnant women are advised to wear gloves when gardening or handling cat litter and to thoroughly wash fruit and vegetables to remove all traces of soil. We don’t test for toxoplasmosis routinely as it is very rare. For more information visit: • NHS Choices www.nhs.uk/conditions/Toxoplasmosis/ Group B Streptococcus (GBS) GBS is a transient bacterial infection, commonly found in the gut, occasionally spreading to the vaginal and rectal tract. GBS causes no symptoms and is harmless to adults. It can however be harmful to babies of infected mothers if they are born vaginally. GBS can be detected via urine tests or by taking swabs of vaginal and rectal mucosa. GBS is not routinely tested for in pregnancy, however if it is detected or if you have been infected with GBS in the past, it will be recommended that you have intravenous antibiotics in labour, to protect your baby from infection. For more information visit: • NHS Choices www.nhs.uk/conditions/group-b-strep/ • Group B Strep Support www.gbss.org.uk/ • Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/patients/patient- informationleaflets/pregnancy/pi-gbs-pregnancy-newborn.pdf