Toxoplasmosis is caused by Toxoplasma gondii, an apicomplexan parasite that is able to infect any nucleated cell in any warm-blooded animal. Toxoplasma gondii infects around 2 billion people and, whilst only a small percentage of infected people will suffer serious disease, the prevalence of the parasite makes it one of the most damaging zoonotic diseases in the world. Toxoplasmosis is a disease with multiple manifestations: it can cause a fatal encephalitis in immunosuppressed people; if first contracted during pregnancy, it can cause miscarriage or congenital defects in the neonate; and it can cause serious ocular disease, even in immunocompetent people. The disease has a complex epidemiology, being transmitted by ingestion of oocysts that are shed in the faeces of definitive feline hosts and contaminate water, soil and crops, or by consumption of intracellular cysts in undercooked meat from intermediate hosts. In this review we examine current and future approaches to control toxoplasmosis, which encompass a variety of measures that target different components of the life cycle of T. gondii. These include: education programs about the parasite and avoidance of contact with infectious stages; biosecurity and sanitation to ensure food and water safety; chemo- and immunotherapeutics to control active infections and disease; prophylactic options to prevent acquisition of infection by livestock and cyst formation in meat; and vaccines to prevent shedding of oocysts by definitive feline hosts.

弓形虫病由弓形虫引起，弓形虫是一种顶端复合体寄生虫，能够感染任何温血动物的任何有核细胞。弓形虫感染约 20 亿人，虽然只有一小部分感染者会患上严重疾病，但寄生虫的流行使其成为世界上最具破坏性的人畜共患疾病之一。弓形虫病是一种具有多种表现的疾病：它可以在免疫抑制的人群中引起致命的脑炎；如果在怀孕期间首次感染，可能导致新生儿流产或先天缺陷；它会导致严重的眼部疾病，即使是免疫功能正常的人也是如此。该疾病具有复杂的流行病学特征，通过摄入猫科动物最终宿主粪便中脱落的卵囊传播，并污染水、土壤和作物，或通过食用中间宿主未煮熟的肉中的细胞内囊肿传播。在这篇综述中，我们研究了当前和未来控制弓形体病的方法，刚地弓形虫。这些包括：关于寄生虫和避免接触传染性阶段的教育计划；生物安全和卫生，以确保食品和水安全；控制活动性感染和疾病的化学和免疫疗法；预防家畜感染和肉包囊形成的预防选择；和疫苗，以防止最终的猫科动物宿主脱落卵囊。