Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs and benefits of introducing compulsory screening for the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, in particular for (1) pregnant women, (2) children, and (3) other adults.

Each year, our National Health Service screening programmes invite over 15 million people for screening, with over 10 million taking up the invitation. In total, this saves approximately 10,000 lives every year and enables many others to make better informed decisions around their health.

The Government is advised on all screening matters by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which is made up of leading medical and screening experts. Where the committee is confident that there is robust evidence that to offer screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.

In 2016, the committee reviewed the evidence for screening pregnant women for toxoplasmosis and did not recommend screening because:

- the screening test would incorrectly show that toxoplasmosis is present in many women;

- it is not known if the current treatment, antibiotics, would stop the infection being passed to the baby or reduce the severity of the infection; and

- there is not enough information about how many people might get the infection in the United Kingdom.

The UK NSC will review the evidence again within their usual work cycle.

Regarding screening children and other adults for toxoplasmosis, the UK NSC has never been asked to consider screening for these groups of people.

Any person or organisation can submit a proposal for a new screening topic during the UK NSC’s three-month open call process which will next run from 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026.