Abstract

VARELA-VILLALOBOS, Rebeca; ROJAS-GRANADOS, Johana; VALERIO-CAMPOS, Idalia  and  CHINCHILLA-CARMONA, Misael. Current status in Costa Rica of toxoplasmosis transmission through meat products. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2013, vol.55, n.2, pp.82-86. ISSN 0001-6002.

Background: Toxoplasmosis is usually an asymptomatic chronic disease which can eventually cause problems for humans, such as abortion and eye damage. Therefore, it is important to know about possible infection sources for humans. The objective of this study is to review the literature related to transmission through meat products and to compare the infection level for Toxoplasma gondii in meat for human consumption to that occurred 10 years ago. Methods: laboratory animals were fed with ground meat or chorizo (a type of sausage) obtained from various suppliers of this product and immunological techniques were used to determine whether the animals’ contamination with the parasite came from eating such products. Results and conclusions: In 4% of the animals fed with ground meat or sausage, there were traces of antibodies against T. gondii. This result is significantly lower than the one reported twelve years ago using the same method. After a historical analysis of the subject, the conclusion is that there has been a reduction in meat infected with T. gondii.

Keywords : Toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasma gondii; transmission; epidemiology; meat..

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