Based on empirical data, the three countries with the highest IgG seroprevalence were Ethiopia (64.2%, 95%CI: 34.3–89.1), Gabon (56.7%, 54.4–59.0), and Brazil (53.8%, 39.3–68.0) whereas the three lowest were Mexico (7.2%, 5.3–9.4), South Korea (2.1%, 0.6–4.3), and Canada (0.2%, 0.2–0.3) (Supplementary Table 4).
Toxoplasmosis prevalence was higher in women (25.44%) and relatively lower in men (21.48%), whereas the combined prevalence for both genders was 15.67% (cf. Table 2).
African countries had the highest average seroprevalence rate of 61.4%, followed by Oceania with 38.5%, South America with 31.2%, Europe with 29.6%, USA/Canada with 17.5%, and Asia with 16.4%. Numerous environmental and human factors affect the differences in T.
Reviews of serological studies have estimated that 30–50% of the global population has been exposed to and may be chronically infected with latent toxoplasmosis, although infection rates differ significantly from country to country.
In France, the consumption of cattle and sheep meat appears to be a risk factor for infection of pregnant women with Toxoplasma gondii.
While the parasite is found throughout the world, more than 40 million people in the United States may be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite. The Toxoplasma parasite can persist for long periods of time in the bodies of humans (and other animals), possibly even for a lifetime.
People at risk include those living with HIV/AIDS, people receiving cancer treatment and people with a transplanted organ. In addition to serious eye disease, toxoplasmosis can cause severe lung or brain disease for a person with weakened immunity. Rarely, the infection can show up in other tissues throughout the body.
Toxoplasma gondii is a microscopic parasite that people carry for life if infected. Scientists say because of the infection rate, many believe that it is the most infectious parasite on the planet.
Toxoplasma gondii has been around for decades. In fact, studies as early as the 1970s put a possible infection rate at around 30 percent of people. Now, though, studies estimate that around 30 to 50 percent of people in the world are infected with Toxoplasma.
To reduce risk of toxoplasmosis from the environment: Avoid drinking untreated water. Wear gloves when gardening and during any contact with soil or sand because it might be contaminated with cat feces that contain Toxoplasma. Wash hands with soap and water after gardening or contact with soil or sand.
Toxoplasmosis is an illness caused by an infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). The parasite reproduces in the intestinal tracts of cats. Humans become infected by direct or indirect contact with cat poop (feces) or by eating undercooked meat.
Humans commonly acquire Toxoplasma gondii infection by ingesting food and water contaminated with the resistant stage of the parasite (oocyst) shed in the faeces of infected cats or by ingesting the encysted stage of the parasite (tissue cysts) in infected meat.
People can be infected with Toxoplasma gondii in a number of ways: Handling or consuming undercooked or raw meat, particularly pork, is the most common route of infection in North America. T. gondii tissue cysts may be found in meats from sheep, pigs, goats, and game.
Fortunately, the risk of maternal transmission of the parasite to the fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy (when the baby is most vulnerable) is relatively low — at 15-20 percent. However, by the third trimester, a pregnant woman with toxoplasmosis has a 60 percent chance of infecting her child.
Once you have become immune, you be immune for the rest of your life. This means that if you had the infection before you got pregnant, your baby will be protected.
Of the estimated 750 deaths caused by toxoplasmosis in the United States each year, 375 are thought to occur from eating raw or undercooked meat; this makes toxoplasmosis the third-leading cause of US foodborne death (4).
After proliferation of tachyzoites in various organs during the acute stage, the parasite forms cysts preferentially in the brain and establishes a chronic infection, which is a balance between host immunity and the parasite's evasion of the immune response.
Healthy people (nonpregnant) Most healthy people recover from toxoplasmosis without treatment. Persons who are ill can be treated with a combination of drugs such as pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, plus folinic acid.
Of all parasitic diseases, malaria causes the most deaths globally. Malaria kills more than 400,000 people each year, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
If you have a weakened immune system, your doctor will treat you with a combination of drugs to kill the Toxoplasma parasite. The usual treatment of choice is pyrimethamine combined with sulfadiazine.
In Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, a study carried out over a ten-year period between 1999 and 2009 reported a 30.2%-55.6% prevalence of intestinal parasites among the vast majority of the people [14].
Toxovax®, the only licensed vaccine for toxoplasmosis, administered to avoid abortion in sheep, is a live-attenuated vaccine, using the strain S48 tachyzoites, originally isolated from an aborted lamb in New Zealand (14).
CNS toxoplasmosis begins with encephalitis and constitutional symptoms and headache. Fever is usually but not always present. Later, confusion and drowsiness, seizures, focal weakness, and language disturbance develop. Without treatment, patients progress to coma in days to weeks.
Healthy people who become infected with Toxoplasma gondii often do not have symptoms because their immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness. When illness occurs, it is usually mild with “flu-like” symptoms (e.g., tender lymph nodes, muscle aches, etc.)
It is unlikely that you would be exposed to the parasite by touching an infected cat because cats usually do not carry the parasite on their fur. In addition, cats kept indoors (that do not hunt prey or are not fed raw meat) are not likely to be infected with Toxoplasma.