Toxoplasma, The Enemy Within!!
The Centre for Molecular Epidemiology and Ecology.
Dr Geoff Hide is a Reader in Biological Sciences in the Centre for Molecular Epidemiology and Ecology at the University of Salford.
What is Toxoplasma gondii?
The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is an important pathogen of humans and many other animals. It is mainly known because of its ability to cause abortion in pregnant mothers.
Fortunately this is very rare. In domestic animals, it is much more common and the loss of lambs and calves can cause major economic loss as well as distress in those animals.
How is the parasite transmitted?
The parasite is transmitted in three ways.
Firstly, the cat, which is the main host for the parasite, can shed infective stages of the parasite in the faeces.
Secondly, the parasite can be transmitted by eating undercooked meat.
Finally, the parasite can be transmitted from mother to offspring during pregnancy (congenital transmission).
It is not entirely clear which one of these routes of transmission is important.
What are we doing in Salford?
In Salford, we have been working with our collaborators in Leeds to find out how important this last route of transmission is in sheep.
We have spent several years collecting placental samples at lambing time and also taking samples from lambs that have, unfortunately, been aborted. Using molecular biological tools as a diagnostic test, we have shown that there are very high levels of congenital transmission in sheep.
An important question remains as to whether these high levels of congenital transmission also happens in humans.
Submitted by: Dr Geoff Hide, the University of Salford, 12 March 2003
