Symptoms

Most healthy people who are infected with toxoplasmosis have no signs or symptoms and aren't aware that they're infected. Some people, however, develop signs and symptoms similar to those of the flu, including:

• Body aches
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Headache
• Fever
• Fatigue

In people with weakened immune systems

If you have HIV/AIDS, are receiving chemotherapy or have recently had an organ transplant, a previous toxoplasma infection may reactivate. In that case, you may develop more-severe signs and symptoms of infection, including:

• Headache
• Confusion
• Poor coordination
• Seizures
• Lung problems that may resemble tuberculosis or Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, a common opportunistic infection that occurs in people with AIDS
• Blurred vision caused by severe inflammation of your retina (ocular toxoplasmosis)

In babies

If you become infected for the first time just before or during your pregnancy, you can pass the infection to your baby (congenital toxoplasmosis), even if you don't have signs and symptoms yourself.

Your baby is most at risk of contracting toxoplasmosis if you become infected in the third trimester and least at risk if you become infected during the first trimester. On the other hand, the earlier in your pregnancy the infection occurs, the more serious the outcome for your baby.

Many early infections end in stillbirth or miscarriage. Infants who survive are likely to be born with serious problems, such as:

• Seizures
• An enlarged liver and spleen
• Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
• Severe eye infections

Only a small number of babies who have toxoplasmosis show signs of the disease at birth. Often, infants who are infected don't develop signs — which may include hearing loss, mental disability or serious eye infections — until their teens or later.

When to see a doctor

If you are living with HIV or AIDS or are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, talk to your doctor about being tested if you think you may have been exposed to toxoplasmosis.

The signs and symptoms of severe toxoplasmosis — blurred vision, confusion, loss of coordination — require immediate medical care, particularly if your immune system has been weakened.