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− | The mechanism of clinical disease in chronic toxoplasmosis is not fully understood, but may be related to low-level tachyzoite replication, or intermittent antigenaemia and parasitaemia<sup>a</sup> have been detected in experimentally | + | The mechanism of clinical disease in chronic toxoplasmosis is not fully understood, but may be related to low-level tachyzoite replication, or intermittent antigenaemia and parasitemia<sup>2</sup> have been detected in experimentally |
− | inoculated cats (Burney and others 1999). | + | inoculated cats (Burney and others 1999). The pathogenesis of disease could also be associated with immunological reactions against the organism through formation and deposition of immune complexes, and delayed hypersensitivity reactions<sup>4</sup>. |
− | T gondii-specific antigens and DNA are detected in aqueous
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− | humour in more cats with uveitis than without
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− | uveitis, suggesting that organism replication in ocular tissues
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− | is occurring (Lappin and others 1992b, 1996). The
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− | organism is rarely documented in ocular tissues of cats
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− | without fatal disease, yet not all cats with T gondii in
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− | aqueous humour are diseased. Most cats with uveitis have
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− | lymphocytes and plasma cells in the ciliary body (Peiffer
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− | and Wilcock 1991). The pathogenesis of disease may
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− | relate to immunological reactions against the organism;
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− | immune complex formation and deposition in tissues and
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− | delayed hypersensitivity reactions may be involved. | |
− | Interleukin 6 is a probable mediator of inflammation in
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− | ocular toxoplasmosis (Lappin and others 1997).
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| ==Signalment== | | ==Signalment== |