Toxoplasma gondii: An Underestimated Threat?

Milne, G; Webster, J P; Walker, M

Abstract

Traditionally, the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has been thought of as relevant to public health primarily within the context of congenital toxoplasmosis or postnatally acquired disease in immunocompromised patients. However, latent T. gondii infection has been increasingly associated with a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders and, more recently, causal frameworks for these epidemiological associations have been proposed. We present assimilated evidence on the associations between T. gondii and various human neuropsychiatric disorders and outline how these may be explained within a unifying causal framework. We argue that the occult effects of latent T. gondii infection likely outweigh the recognised overt morbidity caused by toxoplasmosis, substantially raising the public health importance of this parasite. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

Citation

Milne, G., Webster, J. P., & Walker, M. (2020). Toxoplasma gondii: An Underestimated Threat?. Trends in Parasitology,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 21, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 14, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 19, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 20, 2020
• Journal: Trends in parasitology
• Print ISSN: 1471-4922
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, disorder, human behaviour, neuropsychiatric, toxoplasmosis
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1375763