Human Anti-Toxoplasma Gondii IgG Antibody, Anti-TOXO IgG ELISA Kit

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), which is serious and widely distributed. Toxoplasma gondii infects almost all warm-blooded animals, with cats and felines serving as terminal hosts producing tens of millions of oocysts that are excreted in the feces when they are infected. Humans and other animals, on the other hand, serve as intermediate hosts and are mainly infected through ingestion of raw or undercooked meat containing tissue encapsulation, as well as water and food contaminated with oocysts. The rate of infection varies according to socio-cultural, dietary, and living environment factors.

Figure 1. Toxoplasma gondii pathways of transmission
(Source: Attias M, et al. 2020)

Toxoplasma gondii has a high prevalence of infection in the population. When the infected person has normal immune function, the infection presents only asymptomatic or mild flu-like symptoms. However, in children with congenital infections and immunocompromised patients, toxoplasmosis can cause serious and even life-threatening diseases. Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women may lead to miscarriage, delivery of stillborn babies, teratology, and congenital toxoplasmosis in newborns. Toxoplasma gondii infection can cause serious clinical complications such as fever, conjunctivitis, myocarditis, and neurological damage in patients with AIDS, tumors, or organ transplants who are immunocompromised. Toxoplasma gondii infection has also been found to be associated with chronic mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In animal husbandry, Toxoplasma gondii infections can cause abortions in pregnant livestock such as cattle and sheep, and death in pigs, resulting in huge economic losses to the livestock industry.

Toxoplasmosis is not only an important foodborne zoonosis, but also an important factor affecting human eugenics. Therefore, early diagnosis is one of the effective means of prevention and control to safeguard animal husbandry, food safety and human health. Currently, testing methods for toxoplasmosis can be broadly categorized into three types of tests: pathogenetic, serologic, and molecular biology. Among these, serologic tests are the most commonly used and first considered tests for the laboratory diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii, and these are based on the recognition of Toxoplasma gondii antigens by host Toxoplasma-specific immunoglobulins. Limitations of serological methods include the inability to estimate the exact time of Toxoplasma gondii infection and difficulties in test standardization. Subsequent introduction of recombinant antigens can improve the diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection and differentiate between different stages of infection. Molecular biology testing technology has the advantages of faster detection speed and higher detection rate than traditional pathogenetic testing, which greatly reduces the phenomenon of missed detection. In contrast to immunological tests, it avoids the false-positive results of antibodies due to vaccine immunization or transient illness and is the current trend in diagnostics.

Anti-T. Gondii IgG