Death by Roo Stir Fry ? Save the Roo!
I still think Kangaroo is a supremely delicious meat, and the only mistake farmers have made is not swapping their cattle stocks over for Roos
Anyone had Roo snags before??? They are tops!
Currently I'm working on a Chilli Roo Stir-fry! .....geeesh, it's making my mouth water!
Just a quick note to try and make your next Roo Barby a little more entertaining...the following article from the excellent Kangaroo Protection Coalition is well worth reading before you tuck into your next pile of roo stir fry...
Richard Wells
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What is toxoplasmosis, and how can eating kangaroo meat give it to you?
First of all, what is toxoplasmosis?
A single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii causes a disease known as toxoplasmosis. While the parasite is found throughout the world, more than 60 million people in the United States may be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite. Of those who are infected, very few have symptoms because a healthy person's immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. However, pregnant women and individuals who have compromised immune systems should be cautious; for them, a Toxoplasma infection could cause serious health problems.
How do people get toxoplasmosis?
A Toxoplasma infection occurs by:
Accidentally swallowing cat feces from a Toxoplasma-infected cat that is shedding the organism in its feces. This might happen if you were to accidentally touch your hands to your mouth after gardening, cleaning a cat's litter box, or touching anything that has come into contact with cat feces. But cats only spread Toxoplasma in their feces for a few weeks following infection with the parasite. Like humans, cats rarely have symptoms when first infected, so most people do not know if their cat has been infected. The infection will go away on its own; therefore it does not help to have your cat or your cat's feces tested for Toxoplasma.
Eating contaminated raw or partly cooked meat, especially gamemeat such as kangaroo or venison, pork, lamb; by touching your hands to your mouth after handling undercooked meat.
Contaminating food with knives, utensils, cutting boards and other foods that have had contact with raw meat.
Drinking water contaminated with Toxoplasma.
Receiving an infected organ transplant or blood transfusion, though this is rare.
What are the symptoms of toxoplasmosis?
Symptoms of the infection vary.
Most people who become infected with Toxoplasma are not aware of it. Some people who have toxoplasmosis may feel as if they have the "flu" with swollen lymph glands or muscle aches and pains that last for a month or more. Severe toxoplasmosis, causing damage to the brain, eyes, or other organs, can develop from an acute Toxoplasma infection or one that had occurred earlier in life and is now reactivated. Severe cases are more likely in individuals who have weak immune systems, though occasionally, even persons with healthy immune systems may experience eye damage from toxoplasmosis.
Most infants who are infected while still in the womb have no symptoms at birth, but they may develop symptoms later in life. A small percentage of infected newborns have serious eye or brain damage at birth.
Who is at risk for developing severe toxoplasmosis?
People who are most likely to develop severe toxoplasmosis include:
Infants born to mothers who became infected with Toxoplasma for the first time during or just before pregnancy.
Persons with severely weakened immune systems, such as individuals with HIV/AIDS, those taking certain types of chemotherapy, and those who have recently received an organ transplant.
What should I do if I think I am at risk for severe toxoplasmosis?
If you are planning to become pregnant, your health care provider may test you for Toxoplasma. If the test is positive it means you have already been infected sometime in your life. There usually is little need to worry about passing the infection to your baby. If the test is negative, take necessary precautions to avoid infection (See below).
If you are already pregnant, you and your health care provider should discuss your risk for toxoplasmosis. Your health care provider may order a blood sample for testing.
If you have a weakened immune system, ask your doctor about having your blood tested for Toxoplasma. If your test is positive, your doctor can tell you if and when you need to take medicine to prevent the infection from reactivating. If your test is negative, it means you have never been infected and you need to take precautions to avoid infection. (See below).
What should I do if I think I may have toxoplasmosis?
If you suspect that you may have toxoplasmosis, talk to your health care provider. Your provider may order one or more varieties of blood tests specific for toxoplasmosis. The results from the different tests can help your provider determine if you have a Toxoplasma infection and whether it is a recent (acute) infection.
What is the treatment for toxoplasmosis?
Once a diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is confirmed, you and your health care provider can discuss whether treatment is necessary. In an otherwise healthy person who is not pregnant, treatment usually is not needed. If symptoms occur, they typically go away within a few weeks to months. For pregnant women or persons who have weakened immune systems, medications are available to treat toxoplasmosis.
How can I prevent toxoplasmosis?
There are several general sanitation and food safety steps you can take to reduce your chances of becoming infected with Toxoplasma.
Wear gloves when you garden or do anything outdoors that involves handling soil. Cats, which may pass the parasite in their feces, often use gardens and sandboxes as litter boxes. Wash your hands well with soap and water after outdoor activities, especially before you eat or prepare any food. When preparing raw meat, wash any cutting boards, sinks, knives, and other utensils that might have touched the raw meat thoroughly with soap and hot water to avoid cross-contaminating other foods. Wash your hands well with soap and water after handling raw meat.
Cook all meat thoroughly; that is, to an internal temperature of 160° F and until it is no longer pink in the center or until the juices become colorless. Do not taste meat before it is fully cooked.
Do not eat any game meat, especially kangaroo meat!
If I am at risk, would I be able to keep my cat?
Yes, you may keep your cat if you are a person at risk for a severe infection (e.g., you have a weakened immune system or are pregnant); however, there are several safety precautions to avoid being exposed to Toxoplasma:
Keep your cat healthy and help prevent it from becoming infected with Toxoplasma. Keep your cat indoors and feed it dry or canned cat food rather than allowing it to have access to wild birds and rodents or to food scraps. Do not feed your cat raw meat, especially kangaroo or game meat. A cat can become infected by eating infected prey or by eating raw or undercooked meat infected with the parasite.
Do not bring a new cat into your house that might have spent time out of doors or might have been fed raw meat. Avoid stray cats and kittens and the area they have adopted as their "home." Your veterinarian can answer any other questions you may have regarding your cat and risk for toxoplasmosis.
Have someone who is healthy and not pregnant change your cat's litter box daily. If this is not possible, wear gloves and clean the litter box every day, because the parasite found in cat feces needs one or more days after being passed to become infectious. Wash your hands well with soap and water afterwards.
Letter to NKPC from a person who contracted toxo!
I've just read your website regarding toxoplsmosis affecting a group of people at a dinner party. I wonder if you are aware of a similar outbreak at Maffra, near Sale in Victoria where all the attendees at the Powerscourt restaurant one night contracted toxoplasmosis after eating undercooked kangaroo meat?
This incident occurred in August 1994. I was one of the unfortunate souls who had a particularly nasty reaction to the infection.
Twelve years later I am still being treated for the after affects. The infection is a life-long sentence and can recur whenever you are sick with a virus or other infection (immuno-suppressed). I didn't care for the 'game' meat served at the Powerscourt restaurant and only had a nibble, but it was enough to debilitate me for years. Regards, J.
Okay, so we contacted this unfortunate lady again, and asked for more details of her illness. Her reply is below!
Hi Pat
I don't know if I am typical of a toxoplasmosis sufferer, as the only other person I have spoken to who has had toxo is my husband (from the same source of infection). My husband experienced mild cold-like symptoms and that was the end of it for him. My husband and I moved to Perth from Sale, Victoria a couple days after being infected, so we weren't aware the others at the Powerscourt banquet had become ill until several months later.
My symptoms became very severe while driving across the Nullabor, the symptoms included severe muscle and joint pain, headache and nausea. I was extremely weak and the lymph nodes in my neck swelled to an alarming size. The general effect was similar to a very bad flu. The difference between a flu and toxo was that the symptoms didn't go away after a week or so, they persisted at an extreme level for several months and then they eased into a permanent state of unwellness for the next couple of years.
The ongoing unwellness included flu-like symptoms of neck-ache, aching joints, extreme fatigue, difficulty concentrating and some sort-term memory problems. The next nine years have been typified by daily (chronic) fatigue and milder flu-like symptoms. I have since learned that the toxo infection caused my adrenal gland to shut down, which caused the fatigue.
After 12 years, I still manage the toxo on a daily basis. I have learned to ration my energy, so that I make choices all day long about the priority I give to one activity over another. I know that if I do the weekly shopping, I shouldn't also spend an hour at the gym having a work out. If I do combine the two activities in one day, we eat a very easy to cook meal that night and no other household chores are done. I drink coffee and diet-Pepsi all day long as a form of self-medication, the caffeine keeps me going.
Three years ago, I found a GP who had investigated the effects of severe infection on the adrenal gland. It was this marvellous man who tested my adrenal gland and found that it only functioned at a level of 1 out 12 ( nine being the average function level). My GP has me on a course of a natural hormone, called DHEA, which is specially compounded for me by a specialist pharmacist and I also take tablets containing selenium. Between the two medications, my adrenal gland function has improved from 1, to 3 out of 12 over the past three years. You can see that my path back to good health is a long one.
I was an Air Force officer at the time of my infection, I was category one (MEDCAT 1) fitness and had no underlying immuno-suppressive issues. I suffered the indignity of eight separate AIDS tests administered by the eight separate doctors and specialist I went to looking for help. The general thought was that only immuno-suppressed people would have a severe reaction to toxo. The doctors were wrong.
I was given no treatment and told to 'tough it out'. I would never wish this illness onto anyone else, but it would be satisfying if the doctors and specialists who saw me, could experience one day in my shoes, just long enough to understand how callous their attitude was.
I don't know if the medical fraternity has brought itself up to date on the management of toxoplasmosis yet. I suspect most are still operating in ignorance and quoting from medical text books they used 30 years ago at uni. I hope not.
The bad-flu toxo symptoms recur whenever I have other infections or my system is run down. The toxo symptoms are quite distinctive so I can tell them apart from other illnesses. This is an illness I have to manage for the rest of my life, and one which can go on to do serious damage to my organs (ie lesions on the optic nerve, heart and brain) if not kept in check.
If my story can help prevent even one person from suffering the debilitation of toxoplasmosis infection, then I will feel my experiences over the past 12 years haven't been for nothing.
Regards, J.
Pregnancy precautions!
Congenital toxoplasmosis is a special form in which an unborn child is infected via the placenta. This is the reason that pregnant women should be checked to see if they have a titer to toxoplasmosis. A titer indicates previous exposure and largely ensures the unborn baby's safety. If a woman receives her first exposure to Toxoplasma while pregnant then the baby is at particular risk.
A woman with no previous exposure should avoid handling raw meat, exposure to cat faeces, and gardening (a common place to find cat feces). Most cats are not actively shedding oocysts and so are not a danger, but the risk may be reduced further by having the litterbox emptied daily (oocysts require longer than a single day to become infective), and/or by having someone else empty the litterbox.
Treatment is very important for recently infected pregnant women, to prevent infection of the foetus. Since a baby's immune system does not develop fully for the first year of life, and the resilient cysts that form throughout the body are very difficult to eradicate with antiprotozoans, an infection can be very serious in the very young.
A woman in Australia who unknowingly ate kangaroo meat in a Sydney restuarant was one of 12 diners who became infected with toxo. Her baby was subsequently born blind.
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