Author(s)

Taibur Rahman^*, Atiqur Rahman, Sajib Chakraborty

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular, zoonotic protozoan parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. It can potentially infect almost all mammalian and avian hosts including one-third of the human population world-wide. The major target group of the parasite includes immunocompromised patients (e.g. AIDS, cancer, organ transplantation) and fetus bearing pregnant women where it develops toxoplasmic encephalitis, myocarditis, chorioretinitis and abnormal fetal brain development or stillbirths respectively. In this review, we have presented the current status of T. gondii infection in livestock animals and human population in Bangladesh to assess the country-wide relative risk. Although exact prevalence is difficult to predict due to the scarcity of data, nevertheless existing literature suggests that 16% - 39% humans and 8% - 70% domestic animals are infected with T. gondii, which implies Bangladeshi population is at high risk of toxoplasmosis. Furthermore, we have proposed a potential area of research to decipher the genetic diversity and transmission routes of T. gondii infection into Bangladeshi population.

Toxoplasma gondii, Seroprevalence, Livestock Animals, Humans, Bangladesh

Rahman, T. , Rahman, A. and Chakraborty, S. (2018) Infection of Toxoplasma gondii in Humans and Livestock Animals: An Emerging Silent Threat for Bangladesh. Open Journal of Medical Microbiology, 8, 109-117. doi: 10.4236/ojmm.2018.84010.