Rosado GFM, Medina FIC

Language: Spanish
References: 8
Page: 286-289
PDF size: 49.40 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis spread worldwide and caused by a protozoon called Toxoplasma gondii. For the health authorities, the screening and timely diagnosis of this parasitosis poses a challenge both at susceptible host and at environmental scale. Toxoplasmosis studies in Cuba are restricted to seroepidemiological analysis and to clinically treated cases, so the knowledge on the environmental behavior of this disease is practically non-existent. The aim of this communication was to inform about a possible economic procedure to diagnosis Toxoplasma gondii in environmental samples. This is a molecular method consisting of nucleic acid amplification under isotermic conditions; it warrants an efficient diagnosis of the agent and uses no specialized equipment. The introduction of this method in water and soil samples would bring about better vision of the infection by Toxoplasma gondii in the country, from the viewpoint of the complex interaction among the parasite, the environment and the susceptible host, in addition to assisting in the prevention and evaluation of the infection risks in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, children and immunocompromised people.

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