Toxoplasmosis-a disease with high epidemiological risk in humans and animals

Abstract

Infections produced by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii are widespread in humans and animals. Due to its lack of host specificity, this parasite is able to infect a large number of hosts as well as different cell types. Although toxoplasmosis is the most reported parasitic zoonosis in Europe, the incidence of the disease in humans and the presence of the parasite in animals, food and water is underestimated. If acquired as an acute infection during pregnancy, Toxoplasma gondii infection can have serious adverse effects on mothers, foetuses and newborns. Latent toxoplasmosis also causes a variety of pathologies and has been linked to serious adverse effects on pregnancy. The study was conducted over a 2-year period, 2019-2020, in the Parasitology Clinic of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iasi, following the prevalence of reported cases of toxoplasmosis in cats. Thus, out of 33 tests worked, no case of toxoplasmosis was recorded in cats, all serological tests being done upon request. During 2020, 226 AB. ANTI TOXOPLASMA GONDII- IgM (ELISA) tests were performed in the Praxis laboratory, of which only 15 were positive. All positive tests were identified only in women, of which 10 in the age category 25-34 years, 4 in the age category 35-44 years and 1 case in the age category 15-19 years. In the Praxis laboratory during 2020, 220 more AB. ANTI TOXOPLASMA GONDII- IgG (ELISA) tests were performed, out of which 72 positive cases were identified, 5 being positive in males in the age categories 0-12 months, 1 year and 15-19 years, and the remaining 67 were identified in women in the following age categories: 0-12 months, 15-19 years, 20-24 years, 25-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54 years and 55-64 years. The lack of positive cases in animals during the 2-year study, but the high number of positive cases in humans during a single year, shows the major public health importance of the study, as this very serious disease in pregnant women and immunosuppressed people is under-diagnosed in veterinary medicine.