Edit page | Page history | Printable version

toxoplasmosis

(Science: microbiology) An acute or chronic, widespread disease of animals and humans caused by the obligate intracellular protozoon toxoplasma gondii, transmitted by oocysts containing the pathogen in the faeces of cats (the definitive host), usually by contaminated soil, direct exposure to infected faeces, tissue cysts in infected meat or tachyzoites (proliferating forms) in blood.