• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.605-610
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• 2015

Toxoplasmosis is considered as an important risk factor for bad obstetric history (BOH) and one of the major causes of congenitally acquired infections. The present study aimed to estimate the seropositivity of T. gondii infection and associated risk factors among the attendees of high risk pregnancy and low risk antenatal care clinic of Minia Maternity and Pediatric University Hospital, Minia, Egypt. The study was carried out from April 2013 to April 2014 through 2 phases, the first phase was case-control study, and the second phase was follow-up with intervention. A total of 120 high risk pregnant and 120 normal pregnant females were submitted to clinical examinations, serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA, and an interview questionnaire. Seropositive cases were subjected to spiramycin course treatment. The results showed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in high-risk pregnancy group was 50.8%, which was significantly different from that of normal pregnancy group (P<0.05). Analysis of seropositive women in relation to BOH showed that abortion was the commonest form of the pregnancy wastage (56.5%). The high prevalence of T. gondii seropositive cases was observed in the age group of 21-30 years. Post-delivery adverse outcome was observed in 80.3% of high-risk pregnancy group compared to 20% of normal pregnancy group. There was a statistically significant relationship between seropositivity and living in rural area, low socioeconomic level, and undercooked meat consumption (P<0.05). Serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies should be routine tests especially among high-risk pregnant women.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.51-58
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• 1972

Hemagglutinating antigen of Toxoplasma gondii was prepared and purified by the method of a slight modification of Tsunematsu, and the preparation of the skin test antigen (toxoplasmin) was made by means of acetone-ether treatment described by Nobute et al. With these antigens the passive hemagglutionation and skin tests were performed for the diagnosis of swine toxoplasmosis by using artificially infected pigs. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. The hemagglutinating antibody and the skin test antibody were demonstrated one and three weeks after infection, respectively. And these antibodies were maintained over nine weeks after infection. 2. The antigenicity of hemagglutinating antigen was stable when it was kept in frozen state, while was unstable in a liquid state. 3. Freeze-dried skin test antigen (toxoplasmin) was stable for two months or more if it was kept at $5^{\circ}C$ and room temperature, but in the liquid or reconstituted state it was unstable. 4. Freeze-dried skin test antigen could be preserved without loss of antigenicity for more than two months. 5. Passive hemagglutination test could be applied effectively at the early phase of the disease process and skin test at later phase, mainly for epidemiological survey. However, by combiniation of these methods, the more accurate results could be obtained.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.91-93
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• 2000

This study was performed to evaluate the epidemiological status of toxoplasmosis among the residents of Cheju island. The sera of local students from 18 high schools (boys 2110, girls 2460) and those of adults (474 admitted to Cheju Chungang General Hospital) were collected and checked for the IgG antibody titers against Toxoplasma gondii. Serum samples collected from both the students and adults showed sero-positive rate of 5.5% and 12.9%, respectively Although the rates were not significantly different between the sexes (5.4% for the boys and 5.5% for the girls attending school), the geographical difference showed a significant difference between the urban (4.6~6.9%) and rural areas (5.6-8.8%) (p<0.05) Based on the high positive rates, it should be necessary to control toxoplasmosis in Cheju island.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.71-73
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• 2010

This cross sectional study was conducted in the city of Taiz, Yemen, during the period from August 2006 to August 2007 in order to investigate the seroprevalence and incidence of toxoplasmosis among apparently healthy children (AHC) and visually and/or hearing disabled children (DC). The seroprevalence was 16.0% among AHC compared to 32.5% among DC. The effect of gender was clear as the seroprevalence rate was significantly higher among females (18.3 and 43.8% for AHC and DC, respectively) than males (13.8 and 25% for AHC and DC, respectively). The seroprevalence was proportionally increased with the age, and the highest rates (20.9 and 53.0%) were reported among the oldest age group (> 10-14 years) for AHC and DC groups, respectively. The incidence rate was also higher (4.2%) in DC group compared to AHC group (2.4%) during 1 year period. These data indicate that the seroprevalence and incidence of toxoplasmosis are significantly higher in DC group than those of AHC group. We need to check further relationship between toxoplasmosis and visual and/or hearing disability.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.493-499
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• 2014

The determination of the accurate immune status of pregnant women is crucial in order to prevent congenital toxoplasmosis. Equivocal results with conventional serological techniques are not uncommon when IgG titers are close to the cut-off value of the test, so that a confirmatory technique is needed. For this purpose, we developed a homemade immunoblot (IB) using soluble extract of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites and assessed it by testing 154 positive, 100 negative, and 123 equivocal sera obtained from pregnant women. In order to select the more valuable bands in terms of sensitivity and specificity, we used the Youden Index (YI). The highest YIs were those given by the 32, 36, 98, 21, and 33 bands. The simultaneous presence on the same blot of at least 3 bands showed a much higher YI (0.964) and was adapted as the positivity criterion. The analysis of results showed that our homemade IB correlated well with the commercial LDBIO Toxo II $IgG^{(R)}$ kit recently recommended as a confirmatory test (96.7% of concordance).

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.817-823
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• 1997

Suckling piglets and weaned pigs showed anorexia, dehydration, severe abdominal breathing, emaciation and paresis from Oct. 1993. to Nov. 1993. Five 2-week-old piglets were submitted for diagnosis in Kangwon National University. At necropsy, the pin-point well demarcated yellowish white foci were scattered on the surface of the lung, heart, liver, spleen and kidney. Histologically, multifocal areas of necrosis with mononuclear cells infiltration were found in the lung, heart, liver, lymph node, spleen, kidney and small intestine. These lesions tended to be associated with blood vessels. Variable round to ovoid tachyzoites were located at the periphery of the lesions. The organisms were demonstrated as Toxoplasma gondii by immunohistochemical staining method. Ultrastructurally, this parasite was surrounded with parasitophorous vacuole in alveolar macrophage. The parasite was crescent-shaped and $6{\sim}8{\times}1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ in size. It was enclosed by an thick outer membrane and an underlying thin inner membrane. Several club-shaped paired organelles and conoids lay in the cytoplasm at the anterior. Numerous round body and one to several mitochondria were presented in the cytoplasm. Based on the gross findings, histopathology, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic findings, this case was diagnosed as toxoplasmosis in piglets.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.99-102
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• 2012

Serum samples, 100 in the total number, were collected from different laboratories in Tehran, Iran and tested for anti-Toxoplasma specific IgG and IgM antibodies using indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT). Using the IgG (chronic) and IgM (acute) positive samples, the IgG avidity test was performed by ELISA in duplicate rows of 96-well microtiter plates. One row was washed with 6 M urea and the other with PBS (pH 7.2), then the avidity index (AI) was calculated. Sixteen out of 18 (88.9%) sera with acute toxoplasmosis showed low avidity levels ($AI{\leq}50$), and 76 out of 82 (92.7%) sera in chronic phase of infection showed high avidity index (AI>60). Six sera had borderline ranges of AI. The results showed that the IgG avidity test by ELISA could distinguish the acute and chronic stages of toxoplasmosis in humans.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.101-104
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• 2014

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, with very few therapeutic treatment options. The choices for treatment are pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, however their utility is limited because of drug toxicity and serious side effects. In this study, ethanol extracts of 13 traditional medicines used to treat Toxoplasma gondii were tested in vitro for their anti-Toxoplasma gondii cytotoxicity. The median effective concentration ($EC_{50}$) values for the herbal extracts ranged from 173 mg/mL to 1995.35 mg/mL. In HeLa cell, the selectivity of Alpinia oxyphylla (2.75), Mucunae Caulis (2.96), Dictamnus dasycarpus (7.52) which was higher than sulfadiazine (2.08). This indicates that Alpinia oxyphylla, Mucunae Caulis, Dictamnus dasycarpus extracts may be sources of new anti-Toxoplasma gondii compounds.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.87-91
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• 2008

Between March and October 2007, a total of 516 blood samples from pigs in the Gyeonggi province were examined for seroprevalence against toxoplasmosis by latex agglutination test (LAT) and the detection of antigenic particles among seropositive samples by PCR. In the LAT, 118 (22.8%) were positive, and the unadjusted percentage of seroprevalence rates of breeding and fattening pigs were significant difference. Positive rate (14.1%) in the breeding pigs was much lower than that (27.8%) of the fattening pigs (p<0.001, Pearson's Chi-square test). The antibody detection rate of sows was lower than fattening pigs, i.e., 15.8% (25/158) and 26% (93/358), respectively (P=0.011, Pearson's Chi-square test). Among 118 seropositive samples by LAT, 68 (57.6%) were positive in PCR for the detection of the toxoplasma specific-DNA. There was a statistical difference in the positive PCR reaction between the raising pigs(63/93 67.7%) and sows (5/25, 20%) (P<0.01).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제58권3호
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• pp.257-265
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• 2020

The outbreak of human toxoplasmosis can be attributed to ingestion of food contaminated with Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasmosis recently increased in domestic and stray dogs and cats. It prompted studies on the zoonotic infectious diseases transmitted via these animals. Sero- and antigen prevalences of T. gondii in dogs and cats were surveyed using ELISA and PCR, and B1 gene phylogeny was analyzed in this study. Toxoplasmosis antibodies were measured on sera of 403 stray cats, 947 stray dogs, 909 domestic cats, and 2,412 domestic dogs collected at nationwide regions, Korea from 2017 to 2019. In addition, whole blood, feces, and tissue samples were also collected from stray cats (1,392), stray dogs (686), domestic cats (3,040), and domestic dogs (1,974), and T. gondii-specific B1 gene PCR was performed. Antibody prevalence of stray cats, stray dogs, domestic cats, and domestic dogs were 14.1%, 5.6%, 2.3%, and 0.04%, respectively. Antigen prevalence of these animals was 0.5%, 0.2%, 0.1%, and 0.4%, respectively. Stray cats revealed the highest infection rate of toxoplasmosis, followed by stray dogs, domestic cats, and domestic dogs. B1 gene positives were 5 of stray cats, and identified to high/moderate pathogenic Type I/III group. These findings enforce that preventive hygienic measure should be strengthened at One Health level in dogs and cats, domestic and stray, to minimize human toxoplasmosis infections.