A disease due to infection with protozoa of the genus Toxoplasma. The infection may be acquired from eating raw or undercooked meat, from cats, or from gardening or playing in contaminated soil. It occurs in two forms: an acquired form, and a congenital form. The acquired form may run such a benign course that it is not recognised, the patient scarcely feeling ill. In the congenital form the unborn child is infected by the mother. The congenital form, which in the United Kingdom affects about 3 per 100,000 pregnancies may develop in one of two ways. The infant may either appear generally ill, or the brunt of the infection may fall on the nervous system causing HYDROCEPHALUS, learning disability or loss of sight. In some cases the infection may be so severe that it results in a miscarriage or stillbirth. In other cases the infection is so mild that it is missed until, in later life, the child begins to show signs of eye trouble. As the congenital form of the disease, which is most serious, seems to develop only if the mother acquires the infection during pregnancy, it would appear to be a wise precaution that pregnant women should avoid contact with cats and eating raw or undercooked meat foods.