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Title: WATERBORNE OUTBREAK OF TOXOPLASMOSIS IN BRAZIL, FROM FIELD TO GENE

Author
item MOURA, LENILDO DE - BRAZIL
item OLIVEIRA, L M G B - BRAZIL
item WADA, NARCEKI - BRAZIL
item JONES, JEFFREY - BRAZIL
item TUBOI, SUELY - BRAZIL
item CARMO, EDUARDO - BRAZIL
item RAMALHO, WALTER - BRAZIL
item CAMARGO, NATAL - BRAZIL
item Dubey, Jitender

Submitted to: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/25/2005
Publication Date: 2/2/2006
Citation: Moura, L., Oliveira, L., Wada, N.Y., Jones, J.L., Tuboi, S.H., Carmo, E.H., Ramalho, W.M., Camargo, N.J., Dubey, J.P. 2006. Waterborne outbreak of toxoplasmosis in Brazil, from field to gene. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 12:326-329.

Interpretive Summary: Infection by the single-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is common in man and animals. Humans become infected by eating undercooked meat or ingesting the resistant stage of toxoplasma (oocysts) in the environemnt. Scientists at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the University of Hrazil found that unfiltered municipally treated water was the epidemiologically implicated source of infection for this large toxoplasmosis outbreak in Brazil and T. gondii contamination was demonstrated in the water supply. These reults will be of interest to public health workers, parasitologists and veterinarians.

Technical Abstract: Water was a suspected vehicle of Toxoplasma gondii dissemination in an outbreak of toxoplasmosis in Brazil. A case-control study and geographic mapping of cases were performed. T. gondii was detected and isolated directly from the implicated water and genotyped as SAG 2 type I.