🤎 1.5: Toxoplasma

Question 1

Toxoplasma

Answer 1

protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis

Question 2

Toxoplasma Cyst Forms

Answer 2

Tissue and Fecal

Question 3

How do humans become exposed to toxoplasma?

Answer 3

• consuming uncooked meat
• contamination of food with fecal cysts
• contact with litter boxes/fecal material

Question 4

Infection Cycle of Toxoplasma (1)

Answer 4

Toxoplasma reproduction in cats produces fecal cysts

Question 5

Infection Cycle of Toxoplasma (2)

Answer 5

Small mammals/birds injest fecal cyst and become infected

Question 6

Infection Cycle of Toxoplasma (3)

Answer 6

Toxoplasma parasite develops into tissue cysts

Question 7

Infection Cycle of Toxoplasma (4)

Answer 7

Cats become infected when consuming infected organism

Question 8

Toxoplasma Definitive Host

Answer 8

cats

Question 9

Toxoplasma Intermediate Host

Answer 9

small mammals/birds

Question 10

Latent Infections

Answer 10

dormant infections in the body

Question 11

How do toxoplasmas cause latent infections in humans?

Answer 11

After a brief infection period, the immune system forces the parasite to form tissue cysts that lay dormant for decades

Question 12

What’s the severity of toxoplasma in adults?

Answer 12

very mild

Question 13

What’s the symptoms of toxoplasma in adults?

Answer 13

eye infection

Question 14

What are the high risk groups for toxoplasma?

Answer 14

• Immunosuppressed Patients
• Infant/Fetal Infections

Question 15

What happens when toxoplasmosis causes a fetal infection?

Answer 15

• miscarriage
• structural deformities
• blindness
• developmental disabilities

Question 16

Congenital Toxoplasmosis

Answer 16

infection crosses the placenta and infects the developing fetus