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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365163
Research Project: Detection and Control of Foodborne Parasites for Food Safety

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: A review of toxoplasmosis in humans and animals in Turkey

Author
item Dubey, Jitender
item KOLOREN, ZEYNEP - Ordu University

Submitted to: Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/2019
Publication Date: 9/26/2019
Citation: Dubey, J.P., Koloren, Z. 2019. A review of toxoplasmosis in humans and animals in Turkey. Parasitology International. 1-60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182019001318.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182019001318

Interpretive Summary: Toxoplasmosis, caused by the single celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, continues to be a public health problem worldwide. This parasite infects all warm-blooded hosts, including humans. It causes mental retardation and loss of vision in children, and abortion in livestock. The ingestion of food and water contaminated with resistant stage of the parasite, the oocyst, is a major mode of transmission of this parasite. Of all the hosts infected, only cats are known to excrete oocysts in feces. Cats can excrete millions of oocysts after eating an infected prey, such as a mouse or a bird. Oocysts can survive outdoors for months and they are highly infectious to humans.. This paper reviews current status of toxoplasmosis in humans and animals in Turkey. It will be of interest to biologists and parasitologists, wildlife biologists, and public health workers.

Technical Abstract: Infections by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are widely prevalent in humans and animals in Turkey but little is known of the burden of clinical toxoplasmosis in humans and animals. Many early papers on toxoplasmosis in Turkey were published in Turkish and often not available to scientists in English-speaking countries. Here, we review prevalence, clinical spectrum, molecular epidemiology of T. gondii in humans and animals in Turkey. This knowledge should be useful to biologists, public health workers, veterinarians, and physicians. Although one third of the human population in Turkey is seropositive, the rate of congenital toxoplasmosis is unknown and no infomation is available in children upto 12 years old. An alarming rate (36%) of T. gondii tissue cysts were reported in tissues of asymptomatic sheep and water buffalo meats destined for human consumption; these reports require verification. Genetically, T. gondii strains from domestic cats, wild birds were type II and III, like those prevalent in Europe. However, unlike Europe, Type I Africa strains were isolated from 2 congenitally infected children and a cat.