Toxoplasmosis Of Animals And Humans Second Edition

Found worldwide from Alaska to Australasia, Toxoplasma gondii knows no geographic boundaries. The protozoan is the source of one of the most common parasitic infections in humans, livestock, companion animals, and wildlife, and has gained notoriety with its inclusion on the list of potential bioterrorism microbes. In the two decades since the publi

This 2e of Toxoplasma gondii reflects the significant advances in the field in the last 5 years, including new information on the genomics, epigenomics and proteomics of T. gondii as well as a new understanding of the population biology and genetic diversity of this organism. T. gondii remains the best model system for studying the entire Apicomplexa group of protozoans, which includes Malaria, making this new edition essential for a broad group of researchers and scientists. Toxoplasmosis is caused by a one-celled protozoan parasite known as T. gondii. The infection produces a wide range of clinical syndromes in humans, land and sea mammals, and various bird species. Most humans contract toxoplasmosis by eating contaminated, raw or undercooked meat (particularly pork), vegetables, or milk products; by coming into contact with the T. gondii eggs from cat feces; or by drinking contaminated water. The parasite damages the ocular and central nervous systems, causing behavioral and personality alterations as well as fatal necrotizing encephalitis. It is especially dangerous for the fetus of an infected pregnant woman and for individuals with compromised immune systems, such as HIV-infected patients. Completely updated, the 2e presents recent advances driven by new information on the genetics and genomics of the pathogen Provides the latest information concerning the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of toxoplasmosis Offers a single-source reference for a wide range of scientists and physicians working with this pathogen, including parasitologists, cell and molecular biologists, veterinarians, neuroscientists, physicians, and food scientists

Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Humans and Domestic Animals presents information about Toxoplasma gondii and its infection in neonates and different animals (cats, cattle, dogs, goats, pigs and sheep). Readers will have quick access to the pathophysiology, diagnosis, reproductive disorders (such as abortion, neonatal mortality and prematurity) and treatment of both human and veterinary toxoplasmosis. In addition, important aspects for control programs of congenital toxoplasmosis and for maternal and neonatal screening in such control programs are discussed. Thus readers will be better equipped to conduct prevention programmes and routine diagnosis of zoonotic infections related to T. gondii. This handbook is of interest to epidemiologists, doctors, veterinarians and public health specialists.

Complete information on T. gondii infections in animals and man is summarized and analyzed in this thorough reference text. Critical in-formation on its economic impact and its effect on production of animals whose flesh is used for food is featured. The clinical and subclinical infections in all major species of livestock are pre-sented. For each animal species, worldwide serological prevalences are tabulated with T. gondii antibody titers, followed by an experi-mental section. Worldwide prevalences of T. gondii infections in mankind is summarized, highlighting epidemiology, symptom diag-nosis, treatment, and prevention. Past research is summarized and areas of future investigations are suggested. This book is highly useful to veterinarians, physicians, biologists, and researchers.

Found worldwide from Alaska to Australasia, Toxoplasma gondii knows no geographic boundaries. The protozoan is the source of one of the most common parasitic infections in humans, livestock, companion animals, and wildlife, and has gained notoriety with its inclusion on the list of potential bioterrorism microbes. In the two decades since the publication of the first edition of Toxoplasmosis of Animals and Humans there has been an explosion of knowledge concerning T. gondii and toxoplasmosis. Still used extensively as a cell model, its genome has recently been published making it a subject of even greater scientific interest. Keeping the organizational style that made the previous edition so popular and usable, this second edition has been completely revised and updated. New in the Second Edition: Expanded information on the cultivation, maintenance, and preservation of T. gondii Expanded information on the cell biology and molecular biology of the parasite Reviews all literature from the past 20 years for each domestic animal Summarizes information on the worldwide prevalence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women and the devastating disease it can cause in newborn Written by one of the pioneers of the field, the book provides unique information on all known host types for this parasite. It distills the voluminous and potentially confusing scientific literature that has grown geometrically in the 20 years since the publication of the first edition into a comprehensive resource. The single author approach ensures a strong foundation in the biology and a seamless integration of topics. The new edition of this groundbreaking work is the only volume to cover toxoplasmosis of animals and humans thoroughly in one source. It supplies an entry point to further research by cutting through the morass of literature to identify the most relevant references.

Scientific motivation to publish this book comes from the increased interest in the study of toxoplasmosis, showed all over the world. Though the Toxoplasma gondii infection was first discovered in 1908, toxoplasmosis remains a today's research topic, a realm of questions and dilemmas that interest both the veterinarians and the human doctors. Studies in the field are directed to the epidemiology of the disease, the sources of infection, epidemiological chains, being underlined the important feature in the transmission of this parasite: the ability to pass from one intermediate host to another intermediate host without passing through the final host - felids. An increased prevalence of toxoplasmosis in humans and animals, as well as the difficulty of coproscopic diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in cats, expensive serological examinations in both animals and humans, lack of diagnostic methods accessible to veterinarians in slaughterhouses, cultural and culinary differences of human patients, which can influence the prevalence of the disease, motivate the scientific and practical importance of the proposed book and reveal the importance of this topic for animal and human health. So, the proposed book will contain informations regarding the etiology and history of Toxoplasma gondii infection and also the parasite's morphology and biology. This work will contain a very detailed epidemiology of the toxoplasmosis from all over the world and for all species of animals. This chapter will include also personal findings of the authors about the Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in domestic animals from Romania. In the last part of the book we will present the main methods for toxoplasma diagnosis. At the end of the book we will synthesize the main routes for T. gondii infection and the recommendations for reducing toxoplasmosis seroprevalence.

The highlight of this eBook is to bring new insights into parasites in the tropic. To achieve that, much has been discussed about risk assessment, infection rates, disease burden, hormones and mechanism of immune response, genetic expression and susceptibility as well as, therapeutic modalities. Authors raised hypothesis, discuss concepts, and show open questions. The remaining important issues to resolve questions within parasites in the tropic – a new paradigm shift are briefly discussed below. T. gondii, feline as the definitive host, is regarded as one of the most important parasites in the tropic. Human, as an accidental host, is the only species who still drinks raw milk or milk products particularly from animal sources. Based on the first paper, the author simplifies on how safe to drink milk to prevent the transmission of T. gondii by the insistence on heat treated milk before consumption. It is interesting to explore how hormone plays its role in Toxoplasma infection. Based on the second paper, the authors elucidated from thirty studies from humans, animals and cell cultures. Of these, it was shown that Toxoplasma infection was controlled by the presence of hormones found in different animal models. However, it is still premature to conclude which hormone that has a significant relationship with Toxoplasma infection. It estimates that one-third of the world population infected with T. gondii but the majority are asymptomatic. Based on the third paper, it demonstrated that people having low prevalent of Toxoplasma infection by having close contact with animals. This study will enhance positive attitudes for more people to be committed towards helping animals. For more than three decades, T. gondii has since been identified as one of the most important opportunistic parasitic pathogens in immunocompromised. Seroprevalence of chronic toxoplasmosis was detected in at least one-third of HIV-infected individuals in the regional hospital of southern Thailand, as reported from the fourth paper. Thailand has successfully formulated anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS patients and as a result reported a rare incidence of AIDS-related cerebral toxoplasmosis (CT) in this setting. Based on the fifth paper, the authors demonstrated low IL-10 (Th2 response) and IFN-γ (Th1 response) as well as high TNF-α were produced in ocular and cerebral toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients. This might be due to South American strains and/or the genetic susceptibility of the host. Due to high genetic diversity of T. gondii in Brazil, the sixth paper demonstrated that Calomys callosus survived chronically infected by T. gondii clonal type II strain and reinfected by Brazilian strains. However, congenital toxoplasmosis occurred leading to damaging effects of the developing fetus. The seventh paper conducted a questionnaire-based study on knowledge and practice on Toxoplasma infection among pregnant women from Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. It clearly demonstrated that health education, a core value, is the cheapest and the best option to envisage the preventive strategies of feto-maternal toxoplasmosis from this region. For treatment modality of congenital toxoplasmosis, a novel experimental therapeutic synergism of diclazuril plus atovaquone combination shows a promising outcome with no toxicity in treating this condition, as demonstrated in the eighth paper. However, it warrants for future trials to prove its properties against T. gondii in different clinical scenarios of human toxoplasmosis for more effective therapeutic regimens. In the ninth paper, the author discussed the pathogenesis of maternal and congenital toxoplasmosis, the current treatment in clinical practice, and the experimental treatment approaches for promising future trials. Overall, this protozoan represents the most extraordinary example of parasite in the tropic and beyond scientific imagination. Hence, there are still many challenges ahead and waiting for more explorations on T. gondii, the parasite that never dies. Based on the findings from the tenth paper, it is interesting to identify common gene targets between Glossina p. gambiensis and Glossina m. morsitans that might shed some lights as a suitable candidate for controlling both acute and chronic forms of sleeping sickness. This therefore requires further investigations using proteomic analysis to ascertain the corresponding genes and its proteins as well as functional role that may help the search for more novel therapeutic agents.