Toxoplasmosis - Cat and Dog

Description

• Cat
  • In the intestinal phase of infection only the superficial cells at the tips of the villi are affected
  • Little significant pathogenicity

Epidemiology

Diagnosis

Laboratory Tests

• Serology
  • Sabin-Feldman Dye test (old method)
  • ELISA
  • Mouse inoculation for confirmation
  • 30-80% test seropositive
  • Each cat sheds oocysts for 1-2 weeks of its life

Treatment

Prevention

• Cat
  • Impossible if cat is allowed outdoors due to hunting
  • If kept indoors, only canned food should be fed and vermin controlled
  • ELISA to check if seropositive

dogs

• Caused by Toxoplasma gondii
• Cats are definitive hosts but other species may become intermediate hosts if they ingest the oocysts
• Usually induces antibody response but remains silent clinically
• Often show clinical signs when immunosuppressed
• Involves many different tissues
• Multifocal necrotising interstitial pneumonia
• Proliferation of type II pneumocytes
• Macrophage and neutrophil infiltration