QUESTION One of my female patients was tested for Toxoplasma and found positive for immunoglobulin G (IgG). She is planning to get pregnant soon. What are the risks for her and her baby? ANSWER Up to 25% of Canadians are IgG-positive for Toxoplasma due to past exposure. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) titres indicate current infection. Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that has ...

Mice chronically infected with the intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii or Besnoitia jellisoni were resistant to footpad challenge with Mycobacterium leprae. Resistance was manifested by lower numbers of recoverable M. leprae in the footpads of protozoal-infected mice and was enhanced in Toxoplasma-infected mice by a booster injection of Toxoplasma antigen in the infected footpad. The resu...

Toxoplasma gondii is a prevalent obligate intracellular parasite which chronically infects more than a third of the world's population. Key to parasite prevalence is its ability to form chronic and nonimmunogenic bradyzoite cysts, which typically form in the brain and muscle cells of infected mammals, including humans. While acute clinical infection typically involves neurological and/or ocular...

background: congenital transmission, prenatal mortality and abortion, are major problems in most countries with high prevalence of toxoplasma gondi infection and study of seroepidemiology of this infection among the pregnant women, could provide applicable approaches to preventive measures. in order to determine the seroepidemiology of toxoplasma infection in the pregnant women, this study was ...

BACKGROUND Congenital toxoplasmosis is associated with variable complications including encephalitis, microcephaly, hydrocephaly, hepatitis, lymphadenopathy and even intrauterine death. Presence of Toxoplasma gondii in human placenta may induce congenital infection. The aim of this study was to determine the genotypes of Toxoplasma gondii infection in human spontaneous aborted fetuses in Shiraz...

The parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii infects about one-third of the population of developed countries. The life-long presence of dormant stages of this parasite in the brain and muscular tissues of infected humans is usually considered asymptomatic from the clinical point of view. In the past 20 years, research performed mostly on military personnel, university students, pregnant women and...

The aim of the present study was to determine seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infectionin stray cats and correlation with oocyst shedding and IFN-γ concentration. From April to August 2016, one hundred fifty-nine stray cats were captured from various localities in Mashhad area. The blood and fecal samples were collected from each cat. The serum samples were examined to detect antib...

BACKGROUND The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii can infect and replicate in virtually any nucleated cell in many species of warm-blooded animals; thus, it has evolved the ability to exploit well-conserved biological processes common to its diverse hosts. Here we have investigated whether Toxoplasma modulates the levels of host microRNAs (miRNAs) during infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL ...

BACKGROUND Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic, and often debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. Its causes are still poorly understood. Besides genetic and non-genetic (environmental) factors are thought to be important as the cause of the structural and functional deficits that characterize schizophrenia. This study aimed to compare Toxoplasma gondii infection between schizophrenia patients ...