Toxoplasmosis in man and animals

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasitic zoonoses world-wide, infecting most species of warm blooded animals, including humans. It is caused by a single-celled protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular parasite. It was first observed in the spleen, liver, and blood of gondis, a species of rodents in North Africa. Cats and other felines are the only final hosts, while other animals and humans act as intermediate hosts. The disease is of major medical and veterinary importance; it may cause congenital disease and abortion in humans and domestic animals. Infection in domestic animals is a threat to public health from food-borne outbreaks and causes a great economic loss, as it may lead to abortion, stillbirth and neonatal loss. It has developed several potential routes of transmission within and between different intermediate host species. The major routes of transmission are different in human populations with differences in culture and eating habits.