Toxoplasmosis

Should a woman breastfeed her infant if she had contracted a toxoplasmosis infection during her pregnancy?

Yes. Among healthy women, the possibility of breast milk transmission of Toxoplasmosis infection is not likely. While Toxoplasmosis infection has been associated with infants who consumed unpasteurized goat’s milk, there are no studies documenting breast milk transmission of Toxoplasmosis gondii in humans. Perhaps, in the event that a nursing woman experiences cracked and bleeding nipples or breast inflammation within one to two weeks immediately following an acute Toxoplasmosis infection (when the organism is still circulating in her bloodstream), it is theoretically possible that she could transmit Toxoplasma gondii to the infant through her breast milk. Immune suppressed women could have circulating Toxoplasma for even longer periods of time. However, the likelihood of human milk transmission is very small. To learn more about Toxoplasmosis, visit CDC’s Parasitic Disease Information site dedicated to Toxoplasmosis.

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