Recent Advances in Toxoplasmosis Research

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most important food-borne illnesses and foetal maternal inflammatory syndromes. Currently, there is no safe and effective approved therapy against foetal maternal complication or persistent chronic infection. Toxoplasma is an intracellular organism. About 1.5 billion people world-wide are predicted to have toxoplasmosis, frequently with unknown lifelong health consequences. Toxoplasma is classified as "Category B pathogen" according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH). The organisms reside in muscles and brain in cyst forms for the lifetime of the host awaiting reactivation. This book discusses several topics which include foetal and maternal toxoplasmosis; toxoplasma gondii and suicide and homicide; toxoplasmosis in several animals including cattle, goats, swine, dogs, and kittens; and molecular diagnosis in toxoplasmosis.