Abstract

ROSADO GARCIA, Félix Manuel  and  MEDINA FUNDORA, Iris Caridad. Importance and feasibility of the environmental diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii in Cuba. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2014, vol.40, n.2, pp.283-286. ISSN 0864-3466.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis spread worldwide and caused by a protozoon called Toxoplasma gondii. For the health authorities, the screening and timely diagnosis of this parasitosis poses a challenge both at susceptible host and at environmental scale. Toxoplasmosis studies in Cuba are restricted to seroepidemiological analysis and to clinically treated cases, so the knowledge on the environmental behavior of this disease is practically non-existent. The aim of this communication was to inform about a possible economic procedure to diagnosis Toxoplasma gondii in environmental samples. This is a molecular method consisting of nucleic acid amplification under isotermic conditions; it warrants an efficient diagnosis of the agent and uses no specialized equipment. The introduction of this method in water and soil samples would bring about better vision of the infection by Toxoplasma gondii in the country, from the viewpoint of the complex interaction among the parasite, the environment and the susceptible host, in addition to assisting in the prevention and evaluation of the infection risks in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, children and immunocompromised people.

Keywords : toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasma gondii; water; soils; LAMP method.

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