Latest Toxoplasma gondii Stories
University of South Florida University of South Florida-led research sheds light on malaria-related parasite's transition from acute to chronic stage A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people. The study, led by a University of South Florida research team,...
Cell Press [ Watch The Video ] One major cause of illness from food-borne diseases is the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). New insights into how the immune system combats T. gondii are provided in a study published by Cell Press December 13th in the journal Immunity. The findings could lead to the development of long-sought vaccines to protect against T. gondii and related parasites. To fight off pathogens, the immune system relies on Toll-like receptors (TLRs)—a class of...
A new study demonstrates for the first time how the Toxoplasma gondii parasite enters the brain to influence its host's behavior. This research was led by researchers from the Karolinska Institute and Uppsala University in Sweden publishes today in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens. The Toxoplasma gondii parasite causes toxoplasmosis. The parasite is common and infects between 30 and 50 per cent of the global population. It also infects animals, especially domestic cats. Human...
How parasites remote control victims Parasites are unpleasant lodgers at the best of times, but there is one group of parasites that is particularly pernicious. These are the parasites that hijack their victims' nervous systems, reducing them to helpless zombies. 'The fact that parasites can so efficiently alter host behaviour is fascinating', says The Journal of Experimental Biology Editor Michael Dickinson, from the University of Washington, USA, adding, 'There is something horrifying...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online You may want to start washing your hands after petting fluffy, because new estimates indicate that 350,000 people a year in the United Kingdom become infected with toxoplasmosis. The disease is spread by direct contact with cats, or eating contaminated food, according to a report by the Food Standards Agency. Only about one in 10 of the people who have become infected with toxoplasmosis have symptoms. "The biggest threat is to...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A parasite may be to blame for some suicide attempts, according to research appearing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Toxoplasma gondii, or T. gondii, lies in the bodies of 10 to 20 percent of Americans, but in most it was thought to lie dormant. However, it appears as though the parasite can cause inflammation over time, which produces harmful metabolites that can damage brain cells. “Previous research has found signs of...
A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This precisely focused therapy combines short strands of "antisense" nucleic acid-like...
BETHESDA, Md., July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Alley Cat Allies, the only national advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats, today refuted media headlines implying a deadly link between cat ownership and toxoplasmosis. The organization cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which show that cats are rarely the source of toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, and that people are...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online What do unwashed vegetables, undercooked meat, and dirty kitty litter all have in common? For one, they are all known to likely harbor a nasty parasite, which in a recent study has been linked as a killer among women who come into contact with the common critter. To be more specific, the parasite -- Toxoplasma gondii -- has been linked with an increased risk of mental health problems and attempted suicide in women who become...
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement strategy to track down parasites that is similar to strategies that predators such as monkeys, sharks and blue-fin tuna use to hunt their prey. With this new insight into immune-cell movement patterns, scientists will be able to create more accurate models of...
