background: toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite which can infect human and animals. acquired toxoplasmosis during pregnancy can lead to fetal infection, which may ultimately result in loss of fetus or lesion in brain and eyes. this study was performed to evaluate the seroepidemiological status of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in ilam city, western iran. methods: ...

Disseminated toxoplasmosis is a life-threatening infection in transplant recipients, which results either from reactivation of latent infection or from organ-transmitted primary infection. Preventive measures and diagnostic screening methods differ between countries and are related to the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma spp. in the general population. Here we report a case of disseminated toxoplas...

Toxoplasma is parasite of cats that uses any warm-blooded animals as intermediate hosts. It is known to induce shifts in behavior, physiology and even morphology of its intermediate hosts, including humans. The lower second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D ratio) in infected man and women, and higher height in infected man suggest that sex steroid hormones like testosterone could play a role in the...

BACKGROUND Rhesus-positive and rhesus-negative persons differ in the presence-absence of highly immunogenic RhD protein on the erythrocyte membrane. This protein is a component of NH(3) or CO(2) pump whose physiological role is unknown. Several recent studies have shown that RhD positivity protects against effects of latent toxoplasmosis on motor performance and personality. It is not known, ho...

Toxoplasmosis is caused by infection with the obligate, intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii [1]. It readily infects human beings and clinical illness is relatively uncommon [2]. Toxoplasma gondii is estimated to affect around two billion people worldwide, and it has gradually evolved over the pass decades to be among the most common opportunistic diseases in Human Immunodeficiency Virus i...

The coccidian Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a ubiquitous, intracellular, protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, a cosmopolitan zoonotic disease. Toxoplasma infections are reported in approximately half of the world’s population but most are asymptomatic. T. gondii may serve as one factor that can enhance the immunodeficiency found after HIV-1 infections. Co-infection with other pathog...

PURPOSE The mechanisms involved in reactivations of latent ocular Toxoplasma gondii (Tg) infections in immunocompetent patients are poorly understood. In view of the possible role of T cells in the immunopathogenesis of the disease, ocular infiltrating T cells obtained from patients with recurrent ocular toxoplasmosis were characterized phenotypically and functionally. METHODS Ocular infiltra...

One of the most characteristic features of many intracellular parasite infections is their chronicity indicating that the host immune system is not capable of eradicating the pathogen. Toxoplasma gondii is the most successful parasite worldwide, infecting an extraordinarily broad range of hosts (endothermic animals and humans) and almost all cell types. Recent studies have revealed that in late...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to confirm that women with latent toxoplasmosis have developmentally younger fetuses at estimated pregnancy week 16 and to test four exclusive hypotheses that could explain the observed data. METHODS In the present retrospective cohort study we analysed by the GLM (general linear model) method data from 730 Toxoplasma-free and 185 Toxoplasma-infected p...

BACKGROUND The biological function of RhD protein, a major component of the Rh blood group system, is largely unknown. No phenotypic effect of RhD protein, except its role in hemolytic disease of newborns and protective role against Toxoplasma-induced impairment of reaction times in men, has been described. METHODS Here we searched for a protective effect of RhD positivity against Toxoplasma-...