No abstract available.
Korea* ; Toxoplasma*

No abstract available.
Toxoplasma ; Toxoplasmosis

No abstract available.
Jeollabuk-do* ; Pregnancy* ; Toxoplasma*

No abstract available.
Cleft Lip ; Cleft Palate ; Toxoplasma

A total of 421 patients hospitalized in St. Mary's Hospital were examined by indirect latex agglutination test in order to evaluate the Toxoplasma antibody in Korean from June to August 1981. The test sera of the patients were obtained from each age group by random sampling. The 421 samples of test sera showed negative in 153, 1:2 in 157, 1:4 in 59, 1:8 in 27, 1:16 in 7, 1:32 in 9, 1:64 in 2, 1:128 in 4 and 1:256 in 3 cases, respectively. The positive rate of Toxoplasma antibody was 4.3 percent in this sample when indirect latex antibodies of 1:32 or higher were regarded as positive. The titers of positive Toxoplasma antibodies were increased by age.
parasitology-protozoa ; Toxoplasma gondii ; toxoplasmosis ; immunology ; diagnosis

A total of 377 pregnant women, 43 pelvic tumor patients and 80 of multiphysic health center persons as controls were examined by indirect latex agglutination test in order to evaluate Toxoplasma antibody titers at Kang-Nam St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul. Throughout this survey, 1:32 or more titers of diluted sera were regarded as positive. The 337 samples of test sera in pregnant women showed negatives in 319 cases (84.6 percent), 1:2 in 44 cases (11.7 percent), 1:4 in 9 cases (2.4 percent), 1:8 in 2 cases (0.5 percent), 1:16 in 1 case (0.3 percent) and 1:32 in 2 cases (0.5 percent) respectively. The 43 samples of test sera in pelvic tumor patients showed negatives in 29 cases (67.4 percent), 1:2 in 8 cases (18.6 percent), 1:4 in 1 case (2.3 percent), 1:16 in 2 cases (4.7 percent), 1:32 in 1 case (2.3 percent) and 1:128 in 2 cases (4.7 percent). The 80 samples of test sera in multiphysic health center persons as controls negatives in 56 cases (70.0 percent), 1:2 in 19 cases (23.8 percent), 1:4 in 3 cases (3.8 percent), 1:8 in 1 case (1.3 percent) and 1:128 in 1 case (1.3 percent). Among total 420 study cases, 5 cases (1.2 percent) showed positives , and they were 2 cases (0.5 percent) of pregnant women and 3 cases (7.0 percent) of pelvic tumor patients. One case (1.3 percent) out of 80 control sera showed positive result.
parasitology-protozoa ; Toxoplasma gondii ; diagnosis ; immunology

Although Toxoplasma gondii infection in primary school children has been investigated in many countries, limited surveys have been available in primary school children in China. In the present study, we report the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in primary school children in Shandong province, China. Sera from 6,000 primary school children were evaluated for T. gondii antibodies with ELISA. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 16.0% (961/6,000), of which 14.5% (870/6,000) were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies, 3.4% (206/6,000) positive for IgM, and 1.9% (115/6,000) were positive for both IgG and IgM. The results of the present investigation indicated a high seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in primary school children in Shandong province, China. Therefore, effective measures should be taken to prevent and control T. gondii infection in primary school children in this province. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of T. gondii seroprevalence in primary school children in Shandong province, China.
Antibodies, Protozoan/blood ; Child ; China/epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Students ; Toxoplasma/genetics ; Toxoplasma/immunology ; Toxoplasma/isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis/blood ; Toxoplasmosis/epidemiology ; Toxoplasmosis/parasitology

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) causes a life-threatening opportunistic infection. Despite its clinical importance, very few therapeutic drugs against T. gondii are available. Furthermore, these therapeutic regimens are not always suitable for prolonged treatment due to adverse side effects as well as the potential of clinical failure by selecting drug-resistant parasite variants. Dictamnus dasycarpus is known to have many medicinal properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-fever, and anti-rheumatic activities. In this study, 70% ethanol extract of Dictamnus dasycarpus showed anti-T. gondii effects. Ethanolic extracts of Dictamnus dasycarpus used to treat T. gondii were tested in vitro for their anti-T. gondii activity and cytotoxicity. The selectivity of Dictamnus dasycarpus extract was 7.52, which was higher than that of Sulfadiazine (2.08). We conducted an in vivo animal test to evaluate the anti-T. gondii activity of Dictamnus dasycarpus extract as compared with that of Sulfadiazine. In T. gondii-infected mice, the inhibition rate of Dictamnus dasycarpus extract was high, similar to that of Sulfadiazine. This indicates that Dictamnus dasycarpus extract may be a source of new anti-T. gondii compounds.
Animals ; Dictamnus* ; Ethanol ; Mice ; Opportunistic Infections ; Parasites ; Sulfadiazine ; Toxoplasma* ; Toxoplasmosis

We studied on the proteomic characteristics of Toxoplasma gondii KI-1 tachyzoites which were originally isolated from a Korean patient, and compared with those of the well-known virulent RH strain using 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), mass spectrometry, and quantitative real-time PCR. Two-dimensional separation of the total proteins isolated from KI-1 tachyzoites revealed up to 150 spots, of which 121 were consistent with those of RH tachyzoites. Of the remaining 29 spots, 14 showed greater than 5-fold difference in density between the KI-1 and RH tachyzoites at a pH of 5.0-8.0. Among the 14 spots, 5 from the KI-1 isolate and 7 from the RH strain were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and database searches. The spots from the KI-1 tachyzoites were dense granule proteins (GRA 2, 3, 6, and 7), hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGRPTase), and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRTase). The spots from the RH strain were surface antigen 1 (SAG 1), L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), actin, chorismate synthase, peroximal catalase, hexokinase, bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHTR-TS), and nucleoside-triphosphatases (NTPases). Quantitative real-time PCR supported our mass spectrometric results by showing the elevated expression of the genes encoding GRA 2, 3, and 6 and UPRTase in the KI-1 tachyzoites and those encoding GRA 7, SAG 1, NTPase, and chorismate synthase in the RH tachyzoites. These observations demonstrate that the protein compositions of KI-1 and RH tachyzoites are similar but differential protein expression is involved in virulence.
Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Proteomics ; Protozoan Proteins/chemistry ; Protozoan Proteins/genetics ; Protozoan Proteins/metabolism ; Toxoplasma/chemistry ; Toxoplasma/genetics ; Toxoplasma/growth & development ; Toxoplasma/metabolism ; Toxoplasmosis/parasitology

In this study, we examine prevalences of three infectious pathogens with different transmission modes (Bartonella henselae, hemoplasma, and Toxoplasma gondii) in feral cats from urban and rural habitats. Infection status of the three pathogens in blood samples (n = 117) was determined through molecular or serological diagnostic methods. Overall prevalence of hemoplasma, Toxoplasma gondii, and Bartonella henselae was 47.9%, 50%, and 35.7%, respectively. Comparing the two habitats, only seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae was significantly higher in urban cats. Based on the results, we discuss how pathogens with distinct transmission modes may show different prevalence between urban and rural habitat types.
Animals ; Bartonella henselae ; Cats ; Ecosystem ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Toxoplasma