Chronic Toxoplasmosis: Debilitating, Stealth, Underdiagnosed
Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular protozoan organism, is a very “successful” parasite with extremely diverse host base and sophisticated, almost diabolical, methods of survival and proliferation. It is found worldwide and is capable of infecting most warm-blooded animals as intermediate hosts, including people. It has also been found in some cold-blooded animals, such as fish. Its final hosts, inside which the parasites can sexually reproduce, are felines, including domestic cats. In the environment, toxoplasma can be found in soil, water, and other substances that have come in contact with the parasite, such as fertilizers. At the moment, the predominant medical opinion is that at least one third of all people on Earth are in some way infected with this parasite 1 , 2 averaging from 11-20% in the United States to 50% or higher in a number of Western European countries, for example in Germany. 3 In Germany, the frequency of positive Toxoplasma detection increases from abou...