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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks'd be follow

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Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Joining us now is University of a Tiger ophthalmologist, doctor

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Speaker 2: Francisk March. He is one of the authors of the

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Speaker 2: study and joins us on the line. Now, very good afternoon, doctor.

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Speaker 3: Hello doctor, thank you for joining us. Sorry a little

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Speaker 3: sneffe with the phone there. What exactly is toxoplasmosis and

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Speaker 3: how do people typically become infected?

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Speaker 4: So it's a parasite that comes mostly from the contact

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Speaker 4: with the cats, specifically the cats. They have it inside

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Speaker 4: and they're spreading everywhere through their physis.

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Speaker 3: Right, And how common is it? And people aware of

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Speaker 3: it when they have it?

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Speaker 4: There are very good points. He's not common, and we

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Speaker 4: know that around forty percent of the people of New

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Speaker 4: Zealand have been in content with the parasite, so we'd

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Speaker 4: rather common. And we know that as well, most of

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Speaker 4: the people are having cartinus in a rather common So

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Speaker 4: both things go together.

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Speaker 3: And what symptoms should people look out for? And you

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Speaker 3: know what that like? What are you what are you

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Speaker 3: looking out for to see if you've got it?

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Speaker 4: Most of the people that they get topples now is

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Speaker 4: because we say a rather common papers and other people

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Speaker 4: they will not realize. Sometimes they can have like flu

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Speaker 4: similar situations but nothing to be especially aware.

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Speaker 3: And uh so why is just to get the bottom

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Speaker 3: of us because a lot of people that have the

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Speaker 3: symptoms have got it before, you know, like people talk

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Speaker 3: about getting it being born with that. Why is tox

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Speaker 3: so it's most is particularly dangerous during pregnancy and what

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Speaker 3: precautions should pregnant women take?

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Speaker 4: Perfect These are very good points, so we know the

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Speaker 4: pregnant woman can be especially susceptible in them in the

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Speaker 4: same way, especially with contact with cuts. This is especially

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Speaker 4: tricky because there's a there are communication between the placenta

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Speaker 4: and this can affect the children. I went to some

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Speaker 4: plasma sects newborn. This can be very aggressive and they

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Speaker 4: can create a lot of trouble.

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Speaker 2: Right, so we had a few callers earlier this hour

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Speaker 2: doctor who said that they got this parasite when they

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Speaker 2: were still in the womb. Is that is that how

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Speaker 2: most people get this parasite? Can you get it later

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Speaker 2: in life? Can it develop when you get a bit

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Speaker 2: older into adult adulthood.

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Speaker 4: Yes, you can get in when your newborn. So the

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Speaker 4: situation that comes from your mom, but most likely you

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Speaker 4: will have it from the barmu that the has come

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Speaker 4: from the contact with the.

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Speaker 3: Cuts right right, and the and the parasite is did.

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Speaker 3: Is that what we're hearing. So when you're when you're

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Speaker 3: experiencing things with your ritner or troubles at that point,

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Speaker 3: as the parasite long did and the body is still

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Speaker 3: react into it for whatever reason.

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Speaker 4: Not necessarily. The problem is that the price is the

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Speaker 4: problem is as difficult to kill the coplasma, and that's

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Speaker 4: why we have to give treatment for a long time.

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Speaker 4: And unfortunately we don't have magic solutions. Unfortunately we have

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Speaker 4: to give a lot of time treatments because we're trying

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Speaker 4: to have the inflammation and the control. We know that

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Speaker 4: we can have more than one recurrence of these episodes

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Speaker 4: of inflammation in the eyes.

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Speaker 3: Right, And what about mental health? Because if I've got

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Speaker 3: this right, part of the life cycle of the parasite,

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Speaker 3: as you know, gets you know, a rodent will eat

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Speaker 3: something that gets the parasite and then start doing crazy stuff,

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Speaker 3: and then the cat will eat the mouse. Is does

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Speaker 3: that manifest in humans that it affects our mental health

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Speaker 3: and makes us behave in strange fashions as it appears

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Speaker 3: to do in mice.

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Speaker 4: These is a very interesting research topic and we know,

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Speaker 4: for example, people have like problems with the monocomprehension, you know,

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Speaker 4: they monto depressed, they can be very aggressive. But we

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Speaker 4: think nowadays that they could have some implications maybe with autism,

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Speaker 4: with other mental issues that we have in the general

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Speaker 4: community and the general community.

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Speaker 2: So doctor, along with your colleague, Professor Bruce Russell, you

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Speaker 2: have discovered some promising compounds that might help with new treatments.

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Speaker 4: Is that right, Yes, that's all right. That's a line

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Speaker 4: of research that we want to make grow because it

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Speaker 4: can make a big difference and the way we treat

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Speaker 4: aqual to plus mosis but in general different problems parasites.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and as it stands, clearly you've made an application

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Speaker 2: for a research grant, but that has been turned down

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Speaker 2: at the stage. Is there right, Yes, it's all right, okay.

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Speaker 3: So just to finish up, thank you so much for

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Speaker 3: talking to us today. Well, what are the best ways

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Speaker 3: for people to protect themselves from and fiction, especially cat owners?

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Speaker 3: And if someone is worried that they may have been infected,

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Speaker 3: what would you suggest they do?

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Speaker 4: These are very interesting consideration. So the most important is

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Speaker 4: to be careful with the contact with the cats agin

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Speaker 4: as well when the way we cook, be careful with that.

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Speaker 4: And if we are concerned about the situation acutely, just

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Speaker 4: go to a doctor. We know as well we can

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Speaker 4: have acual toxoplasmosis on this case aes go to entomologies

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Speaker 4: and see what we have to do. Sometimes we have

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Speaker 4: to give to give treatment with antibio pictis sometimes can

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Speaker 4: be for a few weeks or even months.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very interesting. It's just a question that comes Revira,

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Speaker 2: a tics machine doctor. See can you please ask if

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Speaker 2: a cat defecates in your vig garden, should you eat

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Speaker 2: those vegetables? Are they easy to wash or do you

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Speaker 2: need to throw them away?

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Speaker 4: It's a little bit difficult to know about the situations particularly.

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Speaker 4: I think that I would just try to be as

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Speaker 4: careful cleaning every problem we're in contact, because we know

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Speaker 4: that the feces of the cats are going to be everywhere,

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Speaker 4: especially going to be the soil, and if we have

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Speaker 4: to eat something, just be very careful, just be leave

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Speaker 4: just clinic as much as possible to try to boid

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Speaker 4: any risk.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, well, thank you so much. For your time.

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Speaker 2: Yep, all the best with your grant going forward. It

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Speaker 2: sounds like an important research doctor, so all the best

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Speaker 2: and hopefully you get the money you need to research

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Speaker 2: those new compounds. That is doctor Francesca March. He is

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Speaker 2: an ophthalmology consultant Editorgo University. Very interesting. I mean it

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Speaker 2: is slightly scary. Yeah, it can happen anytime. Just be

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Speaker 2: very careful if you're a cat lover owner or you're

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Speaker 2: around the feces a bit much.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and as I say, if my dog is listening

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Speaker 3: at home Colin often, let's leave the radio on. Make

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Speaker 3: sure no cats get into the house. Colin, all right,

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Speaker 3: get the cats gone? Where the cats?

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Speaker 1: Where are the kids?

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Speaker 3: Where the cat's gone? He will be if he heard that,

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Speaker 3: he'll be running down to his dog door and running

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Speaker 3: out looking for cats.

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Speaker 1: He's a good boy. For more from Newstalk st B,

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Speaker 1: listen live on air or online and keep our shows

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