Sources of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnancy

doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7254.127

BMJ 2000;321:127-128 ( 15 July )

Editorials

Sources of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnancy

Until rates of congenital toxoplasmosis fall, control measures are essential

Papers p 142

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Humans commonly acquire Toxoplasma gondii infection by ingesting food and water contaminated with the resistant stage of theparasite (oocyst) shed in the faeces of infected cats or by ingestingthe encysted stage of the parasite (tissue cysts) in infectedmeat.¹ Cats can rapidly shed millions of oocysts after eatingrodents, birds, or other animals infected with T gondii, and theseoocysts can remain viable in the environment for many months.¹Toxoplasma, listeria, and salmonella are the three most importantpathogens carried by food in terms of illness and death in theUnited States and perhaps in Europe. Pork, lamb, and mutton arethe most important sources of T gondii infection, along with gamemeats such as bear and feral swine.^2-4

There is no test to distinguish infections from oocysts as opposed to tissue cysts. Therefore, epidemiological surveys remainthe most useful way of assessing the relative importance of . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: European multicentre case-control study • Commentary: Congenital toxoplasmosis $---$ further thought for food: A J C Cook, R E Gilbert, W Buffolano, J Zufferey, E Petersen, P A Jenum, W Foulon, A E Semprini, D T Dunn, and Richard Holliman
BMJ 2000 321: 142-147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Ferreira, M. U., Hiramoto, R. M., Aureliano, D. P., da Silva-Nunes, M., da Silva, N. S., Malafronte, R. S., Muniz, P. T. (2009). A Community-based Survey of Human Toxoplasmosis in Rural Amazonia: Seroprevalence, Seroconversion Rate, and Associated Risk Factors. Am J Trop Med Hyg 81: 171-176 [Abstract] [Full text]