Water Microbiology

Toxoplasmosis represents the most prominent parasitic disease found in humans. The seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was estimated to vary from <2% up to 70% in the Southeast Asian population. Contact with cat and consumption of uncooked meat were the most common risk factors in acquiring high rate Toxoplasma infection profusely. However, there were a very few reports of toxoplasmosis contracted through blood product or organ transplantation. In view of the clinical scenario, toxoplasmosis was an etiological factor in pregnant women related to factors such as abortion, stillbirth and bad obstetric history and required a consideration differential diagnosis of patients with unexplained lymphadenopathy. Moreover, toxoplasmosis was found to be a common cause in patients with infectious posterior uveitis. With the concurrent HIV/AIDS pandemic, toxoplasmosis was shown to be highly prevalent in HIV-infected patients, with substantial incidence of toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) in AIDS patients being reported mainly from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Majority of active TE patients presented with typical neurological manifestations with CD4 cell count of less than 100 cells/mm³. The laboratory investigations in the diagnosis to be taken into consideration included a positive Toxoplasma serodiagnosis and CT scan finding. Anti-Toxoplasma therapy was shown to be quite effective in treating TE, nonetheless, relapse of TE cases were still reported. Moreover, no outbreak in food and water borne toxoplasmosis has been documented in this subcontinent.


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