Word: toxoplasma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
What's killing the sea otters? Sometimes the cause is clear: a shark bite, a bullet, an outboard motor. But about one-quarter of last year's fatalities have been traced to a pair of protozoan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii and Sarcocystis neurona, that are known to breed in cats and opossums. Could sea otters be dying because California cat owners are flushing used litter down the toilet...
...eats rodent or bird infected with Toxoplasma gondii parasite...
...mouth and throat, making it difficult and painful to speak or eat; herpes, not just the garden variety of sores, but ulcerating infections of the mouth, genitals or anus that raged for months. The patients fell prey to exotic bugs seen more often in animals than humans, like Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhea. Doctors were appalled. Says Dr. Paul Volberding, 36, who heads the AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital: "You see someone your own age dying of such a gruesome disease that you can't do anything to stop...
Common Cause. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most widespread and least understood diseases. Best estimates are that one person in three has or has had the infection, making a worldwide total of a round billion. The microbe responsible is a minute animal (protozoon) called Toxoplasma gondii. How it gets into the human body is, or was, unclear. Once there, it may cause no significant illness, so that countless people have antibody against Toxoplasma, although they have no recollection of having had a related illness...
Until now, the question whether Toxoplasma parasites could come from undercooked beef has been open, although transmission through pork and lamb has been established. Because the five students had not eaten the same food except on the night of the big lecture, Kean is confident that they picked up their parasites from the snack bar's hamburgers. For them, as for most victims, the illness was uncomfortable and not disabling. But Toxoplasma is like rubella in one respect: it wreaks its worst havoc on the unborn child, causing encephalitis, hydrocephalus, heart damage and hepatitis. Says Kean: "If this epidemic...