Update on the diagnosis and management of Toxoplasma gondii infection in cats.

T n t O s p p o f oxoplasma gondii is a coccidian that is one of the most prevalent parasites infecting warm-blooded vertebrates round the world.1-3 Only cats complete the sexual phase in he gastrointestinal tract and pass environmentally resistant ocysts in feces. Sporozoites develop in oocysts after 1 to 5 ays of exposure to oxygen and appropriate environmental emperature and humidity (Fig 1). Sporozoites can penetrate he intestinal tract of cats or intermediate hosts and dissemnate in blood or lymph as tachyzoites during active infecion. Toxoplasma gondii can penetrate most mammalian ells and will replicate asexually within infected cells until the ell is destroyed. If an appropriate immune response occurs, eplication of tachyzoites is attenuated, and slowly dividing radyzoites develop that persist within cysts in extra-intestial tissues. Tissue cysts form readily in the central nervous ystem (CNS), muscles, and visceral organs. Live bradyzoites ay persist in tissues for the life of the host.