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Toxoplasmosis

You know you are in the country when you come across leaflets in the Maternity Unit on “Toxoplasmosis and Lambing”. This weekend I am in Dumfries, south of Glasgow and not far from Penrith and Carlisle. This is a rural area that was badly affected by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease that devastated British agriculture two years ago. Hexham, the town I have just left, was the place where it all started, and the Conference Centre that we used for the workshop was adjacent to the cattle sale yards when the outbreak first occurred.

I knew about the risk to the baby of acquiring Toxoplasmosis from exposure to cat’s faeces during pregnancy, but I hadn’t realised that lambing ewes and newborn lambs also prosed risks for pregnant women. This leaflet explains how pregnant farmers can avoid infection, including scrupulous showering and washing of clothes after handling newborn lambs or a lambing ewes. It advises that handling clothing worn by others should also not be handled and if a proper clean up is not possible at night, then separate bedrooms should be used (!).

It is good to be back in Dumfries again. Their new unit has now opened and they are striving to make it completely midwifery orientated. There is no anaesthetic service, so that is a good start. Many of the midwives work out in the community as part of midwifery teams, but most women give birth in the hospital rather than at home. The midwives are also keen to encourage more home births so this is a topic we will explore further tomorrow.

Posted by andrea at March 07, 2004 03:27 AM

Comments

How amazing...I undertook my Midwifery studies at Cresswell Maternity Hospital / Dumfries. My Scottish friends told me, via an invite to the 'wake' of the hopital, that it had closed. Sounds like their has been a rebirth! Is that the case Andrea?

Posted by: Vita on March 11, 2004 12:26 AM

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