Toxoplasmosis
Hung N. Winn, Frank A. Chervenak, Roberto Romero in Clinical Maternal-Fetal Medicine Online, 2021
The potential public health implications are concerning. The likelihood of human toxoplasmosis is related to environmental conditions that enhance or reduce oocyst survival, the prevalence of feline toxoplasmosis within that region, and culinary habits of the at-risk population. There have been several studies looking at sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women (13–15). All three studies demonstrated the same risk factors for toxoplasmosis infection: consumption of under-cooked meat or game, contact with soil (poor hand hygiene), consumption of poorly cleansed raw vegetables (poor kitchen hygiene), poor cleansing of meat preparation utensils or surfaces (poor kitchen hygiene), and changing the litter box of the pet cat. The odds ratio exceeded 3.0 with all risk factors. Consumption of undercooked meats (50%), soil exposure (18%), and work with animals (5%) accounted for the major of maternal to fetal transmission of toxoplasma.
Posterior uveitis
Gwyn Samuel Williams, Mark Westcott, Carlos Pavesio, Bushra Thajudeen in Practical Uveitis, 2017
Where toxoplasmosis is a cat-borne disease, toxocariasis is spread by dogs. Toxocara canis is a nematode worm that is thought to infect the vast majority of household pups. There is in fact a cat variety called Toxocara cati although this is far less important from a human infection perspective. The adult worm lives in the gut of infected dogs happily passing eggs into the faeces which, due to the canine habit of eating faeces, then infects another dog. The eggs after ingestion develop into larvae and pass through the gut wall into the circulation and hence in the blood to the dog's lungs, where they are coughed up and swallowed. These then grow into adult worms and further their own species’ existence by passing new eggs into the faeces for other dogs to get infected. Humans are accidental hosts and almost always get infected by coming into contact with dog faeces, either through accidental contamination or the horrible habit some children have of eating soil. For this reason, as well as an increased natural susceptibility, very young children form the biggest group of people with primary Toxocara canis infection, although the sequelae last a lifetime. It is for this reason there are signs in parks warning dog owners to take their dogs’ faeces home with them because ‘dog waste can cause blindness’.
Toxoplasma gondii
Peter D. Walzer, Robert M. Genta in Parasitic Infections in the Compromised Host, 2020
Treatment for toxoplasma infection is reserved for patients who develop acute acquired infection during pregnancy and for immunocompromised patients with evidence of active disease due to Toxoplasma. It is relatively rare that a normal host requires therapy for toxoplasmosis. In almost all instances the infection is self-limited in the nonimmunocompromised host. One possible exception is infection acquired during laboratory accident, which may be more virulent and therefore require therapy promptly. Therapy for toxoplasmosis should be instituted in those immunocompromised patients in whom there is histopathological evidence of active infection. Empirical therapy should be instituted in seropositive immunocompromised patients who are primarily predisposed to developing toxoplasmic encephalitis and have a characteristic lesion on cerebral axial tomography that is inaccessible to biopsy or when there is a contraindication to biopsy. Immunocompromised patients with serological evidence of recently acquired infection may develop a clinical syndrome consistent with diffuse systemic and cerebral involvement and should be started on anti-Toxoplasma therapy whether or not there is evidence of abnormalities on CAT scan.
Patient and treatment pathways for toxoplasmosis in the United States: data analysis of the Vizient Health Systems Data from 2011 to 2017
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2018
Kathy Belk, Mark P. Connolly, Lisa Schlesinger, Ruben R. Ben-Harari
Toxoplasmosis is a disease resulting from infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). There are three major clinical manifestations of the disease: 1) ocular toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent individuals is one of the most frequently identified etiologies of uveitis; 2) toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised patients as observed in patients with hematologic malignancies, organ transplant recipients, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and those receiving immunosuppressive therapy; and 3) congenital toxoplasmosis resulting from the acquisition of infection during pregnancy and vertical transmission that may lead to a variety of clinical presentations including chorioretinitis, blindness, psychomotor or mental retardation, encephalitis and hydrocephalus [1].
Clinical, Socio-economic and Environmental Factors Related with Recurrences in Ocular Toxoplasmosis in Quindío, Colombia
Published in Ophthalmic Epidemiology, 2021
Stefany Velasco-Velásquez, Daniel Celis-Giraldo, Andrea Botero Hincapié, Diego Alejandro Hincapie Erira, Sara Sofia Cordero López, Nathalia Marulanda Orozco, Jorge Enrique Gómez-Marín
Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii.1 This affects one-third of the global population.2,3 In its life cycle, cats are the definitive hosts and a variety of animals are its intermediate hosts, including humans.4 It can be acquired via mother-to-child transmission and environmental factors. The parasite has several stages, starting with the oocysts as a product of the sexual phase in the feline’s bowel, which will be excreted in the faeces and sporulated and then ingested by humans and other animals.4 In the intermediate host, they change to tachyzoites – the acute and active form – and will spread haematogenously, producing clinical manifestations. Finally, it will change to bradyzoites, as latent and chronic form.5,6
Arctigenin: pharmacology, total synthesis, and progress in structure modification
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2022
Dan Wu, Lili Jin, Xing Huang, Hao Deng, Qing-kun Shen, Zhe-shan Quan, Changhao Zhang, Hong-Yan Guo
Toxoplasmosis is a global parasitic disease and is caused by the specialised intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which infects approximately one-third of the world’s population148. The traditional treatments for toxoplasmosis include ethidiazine, sulfadiazine, spiramycin, and atovaquone. Clinically, etanercept and sulfadiazine have shown significant anthelmintic effects, but the combination of the two drugs can cause serious adverse effects such as hypersensitivity reactions, bone marrow suppression, intolerance, and an increased risk of liver and renal complications149. To date, there is no ideal drug that can completely eradicate all forms of Toxoplasma gondii. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop highly effective and less toxic tolerable drugs for the treatment of this parasitic infection.
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