Principais aspectos da toxoplasmose em humanos e em pequenos ruminantes e sua importância para saúde pública

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a disease of worldwide distribution, caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, identified with one of the main zoonosis in the present time. Epidemiological studies indicate a high seroprevalence of the disease in the world population, being considered a third of the seropositive population, besides a wide distribution in the animals of production and company. It has a facultative heterotoxic life cycle, with two types of host, the definitive where the sexual phase of reproduction occurs and the intermediates, where the asexual phase occurs. The protozoan has three infecting forms: the tachyzoites, the bradyzoites and the sporozoites (oocysts). Humans can become infected through the ingestion of oocysts that are eliminated in the feces of infected felines, ingestion of raw or undercooked meat, mainly of swine and lambs containing tissue cysts, by ingestion of milk and contaminated products by the congenital form, by blood transfusion and organ transplants. In animals, the most common form of infection is through ingestion of oocysts that contaminate water, food and pasture, in addition to the congenital form. In immunocompetent humans, the disease usually presents asymptomatically, but it can cause severe clinical conditions in immunocompromised patients, pregnant women, newborns, and is a relevant occupational disease for veterinarians, butchers, butchers and others. In small ruminants, the disease is often asymptomatic, but causes serious economic damage to the reproductive environment, leading to embryonic losses, abortions and births of weak fetuses. Prevention is the most effective means of combating the disease in both humans and animals. As the population in general does not have consistent information about the disease, the mode of transmission and the main forms of prevention and control, it is necessary to have orientation work involving the various professionals inserted in the context of public health, assuming a fundamental role to play of the Veterinarian, in the awareness about the importance of the disease and how to prevent it.