Toxoplasma Gondii by Weiss, Louis M.; Kim, Kami;

Hosszú leírás:

Toxoplasmosis is caused by a one-celled protozoan parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii. In the United States, it is estimated that approximately 30% of cats, the primary carriers, have been infected by T. gondii. Most humans contract toxoplasmosis by eating cyst-contaminated raw or undercooked meat, vegetables, or milk products or when they come into contact with the T. gondii eggs from cat feaces while cleaning a cat's litterbox, gardening, or playing in a sandbox. Approx 1 in 4 (more than 60 million) people in the USA are infected with the parasite, and in the UK between 0.5 and 1% of individuals become infected each year. By the age of 50, 40% of people test positive for the parasite. The predilection of this parasite is for the central nervous system (CNS) causing behavioral and personality alterations as well as fatal necrotizing encephalitis, and is especially dangerous for HIV infected patients.Though there have been tremendous strides in our understanding of the biology of Toxoplasma gondii in the last decade, there has been no systemic review of all of the information that has accumulated. Toxoplasma gondii provides the first comprehensive summary of literature on this organism by leading experts in the field who were responsible for organising the 7th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis in May 2003. It offeres systematic reviews of the biology of this pathogen as well as descriptions of the methods and resources used. Within the next year the T. gondii genome will be completed making this an indispensable research resource for biologists, physicians, parasitologists, and for all those contemplating experiments using T. gondii.

Tartalomjegyzék:

Chapter 1: The History and Life Cycle of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 2: The Ultrastructure of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 3: Population Structure and Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 4: Clinical Disease and Diagnostics

Chapter 5: Ocular Disease Due to Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 6: Toxoplasmosis in Wild and Domestic Animals

Chapter 7: Toxoplasma Animal Models and Therapeutics

Chapter 8: Biochemistry and Metabolism of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 9: The Apicoplast and Mitochondrion of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 10: Calcium Storage and Homeostasis in Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 11: Toxoplasma Secretory Proteins and their Roles in Cell Invasion and Intracellular Survival

Chapter 12: Alterations in Host-Cell Biology due to Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 13: Bradyzoite Development

Chapter 14: Development and Application of Classical Genetics in Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 15: Genetic Manipulation of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 16: Gene Regulation

Chapter 17: The Secretory Protein Repertoire and Expanded Gene Families of Toxoplasma gondii and Other Apicomplexa

Chapter 18: Comparative Aspects of Nucleotide and Amino-acid Metabolism in Toxoplasma gondii and other Apicomplexa

Chapter 19: Toxoplasma as a Model System for Apicomplexan Drug Discovery

Chapter 20: Proteomics of Toxoplasma gondii

Chapter 21: Cerebral Toxoplasmosis: Pathogenesis and Host Resistance

Chapter 22: Innate Immunity in Toxoplasma gondii Infection

Chapter 23: Adaptive Immunity and Genetics of the Host Immune Response

Chapter 24: Vaccination Against Toxoplasmosis: Current Status and Future Prospects

Epilogue

INDEX