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Yes—Toxocara cati, the feline roundworm, can infect people. A 2024 review of 289 studies estimated that 17.0% of tested cats had evidence of infection by stool-based methods, but results varied greatly by country, cat population and test. Human exposure is also common: a separate global analysis found Toxocara antibodies in 19% of people tested. That figure shows previous exposure, not active illness, and available tests usually cannot tell whether exposure came from T. cati or the dog roundworm T. canis.
What is Toxocara cati?
Toxocara cati is the roundworm that commonly infects cats. It is different from Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite associated with toxoplasmosis. Adult T. cati worms live in cats and release eggs in feces. People are accidental hosts: the larvae can migrate through human tissues, but they do not mature into adult worms in people.
Human toxocariasis is usually acquired from the environment rather than from a worm moving directly from a cat into a person. Simply touching a cat does not automatically cause infection, although contaminated fur, soil or household surfaces can contribute to exposure.
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How common is the roundworm in cats?
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis combined 289 studies published from 1973 through 2023 and more than 150,000 animals. Its pooled prevalence estimates were:
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| Measure | Estimate | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| All cats, coproparasitological testing | 17.0% (95% CI 16.2–17.8%) | About one in six tested cats had evidence of eggs or other findings in fecal testing. |
| PCR testing in four studies | 4.9% (95% CI 1.9–7.9%) | A smaller evidence base using a different method; it should not be treated as directly interchangeable with the stool-based estimate. |
| Highest country estimate | 94.4% in Nepal | A country-specific pooled result, not a worldwide rate for household cats. |
| Feral cats | 42.6% | Higher pooled prevalence than the other cat groups in the review. |
| Stray cats | 29.9% | Population-specific pooled estimate. |
| Shelter cats | 20.1% | Population-specific pooled estimate. |
These numbers describe the cats and tests included in the studies. They do not mean that 17% of every household cat population is infected, nor that a positive fecal result predicts human illness. Geography, access to veterinary care, outdoor exposure, age, deworming practices and the diagnostic method can all change the estimate.
What does the 19% human figure mean?
A 2019 global meta-analysis reviewed 250 studies involving 265,327 people in 71 countries. It estimated that 19% of participants were seropositive for Toxocara antibodies. Regional estimates ranged from 37.7% in Africa to 8.2% in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Seropositivity means that antibodies were detected, indicating exposure or infection at some point. It is not a count of people who currently have symptoms, and it does not establish that T. cati caused the exposure. Most available human tests detect antibodies to Toxocara broadly and generally cannot separate the cat species from T. canis.
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U.S. data illustrate how estimates change over time and between populations. In an analysis of NHANES 2011–2014, age-standardized seroprevalence among people aged six years and older was 5.0% (95% CI 4.2–5.8%), compared with 13.9% in NHANES III from 1988–1994. The more recent analysis found higher seropositivity among older people, non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic participants, males, people living below the poverty level, people in crowded households, those with less than a college education and people born outside the United States.
How infection happens
The lifecycle explains why environmental hygiene matters:
- Cats pass unembryonated T. cati eggs in feces.
- In soil or other environments, the eggs develop for roughly one to four weeks before becoming infective.
- A person may swallow infective eggs on contaminated hands, soil, produce, garden materials, sand or playground surfaces.
- People can also ingest larvae in undercooked meat or organs from infected paratenic animals.
- Larvae move through tissues such as the liver, lungs, brain, muscles or eyes. They do not become adult worms in humans.
Possible exposure settings include gardens, sandpits, playgrounds, raw vegetables and areas contaminated by cat feces. Direct pet contact has been proposed as a route, but environmental contamination is the better-established concern.
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Can cat litter give you worms?
It can create a route to exposure if infective eggs are present and are accidentally swallowed. Freshly passed eggs are not immediately infective; they generally need one to four weeks in the environment to embryonate. Daily litter removal therefore reduces the time available for eggs to become infectious, although it does not eliminate all risk.
- Remove feces promptly and place waste in a sealed disposal bag.
- Wash hands with soap and water after cleaning litter, handling soil or gardening.
- Keep children away from visibly contaminated sand or soil and discourage hand-to-mouth contact outdoors.
- Use routine veterinary care and deworming appropriate for the cat’s age and lifestyle.
What illness can toxocariasis cause?
Most infections
Many infections cause no symptoms or only mild, nonspecific illness. A positive antibody test alone does not prove that a person is currently sick.
Visceral larva migrans
Visceral larva migrans (VLM) occurs when larvae affect internal organs. It is seen mostly in preschool children and can involve fever, cough, muscle pain, weight loss, rash, an enlarged liver or spleen and eosinophilia, an increased number of eosinophil white blood cells.
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Ocular larva migrans
Ocular larva migrans (OLM) affects the eye and can cause uveitis, retinitis or endophthalmitis. Vision may be impaired, and severe cases can lead to permanent blindness. New vision changes, eye pain, floaters or a red eye warrant prompt medical assessment.
Who faces greater risk?
Risk rises where soil or food is contaminated and sanitation or waste control is limited. Young children are more likely to put dirty hands or objects in their mouths, while people who garden, handle soil, clean litter or eat undercooked meat may have more opportunities for exposure. The U.S. survey associations also point to differences related to poverty, crowding, education, geography and country of birth. These are population-level patterns, not a way to diagnose an individual.
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- Have a veterinarian diagnose and treat roundworms and follow the recommended repeat schedule; reinfection after treatment is common.
- Remove feces from litter boxes and outdoor areas as soon as practical.
- Wash hands after litter care, gardening or contact with soil, and before eating or preparing food.
- Wash raw vegetables and produce that may have contacted soil.
- Cook meat and organs thoroughly rather than eating them raw or undercooked.
- Reduce a cat’s access to infected feces and limit hunting where feasible.
- Keep children from playing in contaminated sand or soil and supervise handwashing.
These steps lower exposure; they do not imply that every cat carries T. cati or that living with a cat is inherently unsafe.
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Testing and medical care
Clinicians interpret toxocariasis testing together with symptoms, exposure history, blood counts and, when relevant, eye findings. Serology detects antibodies and may reflect past exposure rather than active disease. Because routine tests generally do not identify the infecting Toxocara species, a positive result cannot reliably be attributed to T. cati.
Anyone with persistent fever, unexplained eosinophilia, abdominal or respiratory symptoms after a plausible exposure should discuss testing with a healthcare professional. Eye symptoms or any new loss of vision require urgent evaluation. Treatment decisions depend on the clinical syndrome and are made by a clinician; do not self-treat based solely on a cat’s diagnosis or an antibody result.
How this differs from toxoplasmosis
T. cati is a feline roundworm whose eggs mature in the environment and whose larvae cause toxocariasis in accidental human hosts. Toxoplasma gondii is a different parasite and causes toxoplasmosis. The two infections have different life cycles and diagnostic tests, so information about toxoplasmosis should not be used to estimate the prevalence or clinical risk of T. cati.
The practical answer
Your cat’s roundworms can infect you, but infection usually requires swallowing mature eggs from contaminated environments or larvae in undercooked meat. Prompt feces removal, hand and food hygiene, safer soil practices and veterinary treatment substantially reduce that route of exposure. The exact share of human toxocariasis caused by T. cati remains unknown because species-specific confirmation is uncommon.
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