Are cats who are positive for toxoplasmosis a threat to human health? No, says Dr. Elizabeth Berliner, Director of Clinical Programs for the Maddie's^® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University.

Cats often get blamed as the source of human toxoplasmosis infections. In a review of current research at the 2013 ASPCA/Maddie's^® Shelter Medicine Conference, Dr. Berliner separated fact from fiction about cats, people and toxoplasmosis.

From her presentation:

(Cats) can absolutely remain positive for antibodies for life, just like we do, so once you test positive you're going to be positive for life.  And those cats are really a minimal zoonotic risk if they're not sick.  So they're not shedding.  They may have been exposed a long time ago, and if it's actually a positive serology, that is not a reason to consider that cat a risk.  And this is a common error, where people will say, "That cat is toxoplasma positive on serology, and now that cat is a threat."  No, it's not. 

View the entire presentation here.