Library · Microorganism
Toxoplasma gondii
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Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan, that is, a single-celled parasite, and it is obligately intracellular: it cannot live outside the cells of another living thing. It causes toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic infection, meaning one that circulates between animals and humans.
Its life cycle needs two kinds of host: a definitive one and an intermediate one, two different roles within the same cycle. The only known definitive hosts are felines, including the domestic cat. In their feces they shed oocysts, the tough forms in which the parasite makes its way out into the environment.
Inside the body the parasite takes two forms. Tachyzoites are the fast form and can get into any cell that has a nucleus. When the body's defenses react, those tachyzoites slow down and turn into bradyzoites, the slow form, which surround themselves with a thick wall and form tissue cysts. The parasite shuts itself inside its own bunker and goes still, and that is how the infection stays latent for life.
In brief
Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic infection.
Its cycle needs a definitive host and an intermediate host; the only known definitive hosts are felines, including the domestic cat, and they shed oocysts in their feces into the environment.
Tachyzoites enter any nucleated cell; once the immune response kicks in, they turn into bradyzoites that form tissue cysts, and the infection stays latent for life.
The parasite shuts itself inside its own bunker and goes still.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingToxoplasmosis, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated