Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. It is usually mild in healthy people but can cause severe disease in fetuses and people with weakened immune systems.

Toxoplasma gondii: A protozoan parasite that infects warm-blooded animals and reproduces sexually in cats. This organism causes toxoplasmosis and cycles between cats and other hosts.
Congenital toxoplasmosis: Toxoplasmosis acquired by a fetus when the parasite crosses the placenta during pregnancy. Maternal infection can harm fetal development, with severity depending partly on timing.
Cat: A domesticated felid that can host the sexual reproduction of Toxoplasma gondii. Cats shed oocysts after infection, making felids the parasite’s definitive hosts.
Malaria: A mosquito-borne disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Both are apicomplexan infections, but malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and has a different disease cycle.
Toxoplasma life cycle: The sequence of sexual and asexual stages through which Toxoplasma gondii reproduces and spreads. Its stages explain transmission from cat feces, contaminated food, and infected tissues.
Ocular toxoplasmosis: Toxoplasma infection of the eye, commonly involving inflammation of the retina and choroid. Retinochoroiditis is a major manifestation that can impair vision or recur.
Foodborne illness: Disease caused by consuming food contaminated with infectious organisms or their toxins. Undercooked meat and contaminated produce are important routes of toxoplasmosis transmission.
Cryptosporidiosis: An intestinal disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium. Both parasites form environmentally resistant stages, but cryptosporidiosis primarily causes intestinal illness.
Tachyzoite: The rapidly multiplying form of Toxoplasma gondii found during acute infection. Tachyzoites disseminate through the body and drive active tissue infection.
Cerebral toxoplasmosis: Brain infection by Toxoplasma gondii, especially in people with severe immune suppression. Reactivation can produce brain lesions and neurological symptoms in immunocompromised patients.

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