Sandbox: Reddy

Congenital Toxoplasmosis

Historical Perspective

• In 1908, Nicolle and Manceaux described the parasite in the blood, spleen and liver of a North African rodent–gundi (Ctenodactylus gundi), due to its similar appearance as leishmania they named it Leishmania gondii.
• In 1909, Nicolle and Manceaux renamed the parasite as T. gondii.
• In 1937, Sabin & Olitsky described that Toxoplasma was an obligate intracellular parasite and could be passed onto laboratory animals by intracranial, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal inoculation of brain homogenates (The slurry of tissues and cells which results when cell structure has been mechanically disrupted). They have also suggested that ingestion of Toxoplasma contaminated tissue can result in Toxoplasmosis.
• In 1937 to 1940, Wolf and Cowen have described the autopsy findings of a 3 day old infant's brain with necrotic and granulomatous lesions. They have also reported that the mothers were asymptomatic but carried antibodies against Toxoplasma and the possibility of congenital transmission was expressed.
• In 1940, Pinkerton and Weinman reported the first fatal case of Toxoplasmosis in an adult.
• In 1948, Sabin and Feldman developed a serological test to identify infected individuals by using antibodies specific to Toxoplasma, called the Sabin Feldman Dye test.
• The serological test when used in large population studies showed a high proportion of humans and domestic animals carried antibodies against Toxoplasma. It showed the parasite had a frequent occurrence.
• In 1965, Desmonts described that ingestion of under-cooked and uncooked meat plays a role in the pathogenesis of Toxoplasmosis.
• In 1970, Dubley described the life cycle of the parasite and established that the cats are the definitive hosts and any warm blooded animal can be an intermediate host.