Toxoplasmosis Taxonomy Kingdom-Protista Phylum-Apicomplexa Class-Sporozoasida Order-Eucoccidiorida Family-Sarcocystidae Genus-Toxoplasma Species-gondii http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/Toxoplasmosis.htm (CDC, 07/20/2009) As the toxoplasma exists in the cat in will exist as a tissue cyst, it will then leave the cat in a fecal oocyst. After it leaves the cat that is when it can attract rats for the cat to kill. Also the toxoplasma can then enter a humans body. This is where it will affect the eyes or if a women gets infected and gets pregnant it will then affect the fetus. While in the human body toxoplasma exists as a tissue cyst. The positive thing that toxoplasma does is that it causes rats to be more attracted to cat urine than repelled by it so the rats stay in an area where cats are which allows the cat to hunt more. Toxoplasma also has a bad side to it. If it infects a pregnant women it can cause a miscarriage and other defects if the baby survives it can have some defects in the brain. If the person is not pregnant it can cause other problems in the eyes. http://www.pathpedia.com/education/eatlas/histopathology/brain_and_cord/cns_toxoplasmosis.aspx Hunter Ross