You’ve seen the headlines: could this cat-associated parasite be controlling your every move? Is the love you have for cats pure or merely a manipulation? Join us as we discuss Toxoplasma gondii, the feline-associated parasite that infects a whopping one third of all humans. Yes, you read that right. From the behavior-altering effects on rodents to the ancestral origins of the domestic cat, we dive deep into all things toxoplasmosis, the disease that sounds like it comes straight out of a sci-fi novel.
| History | Biology |
| McAuliffe, Kathleen. This is Your Brain on Parasites: How tiny creatures manipulate our behavior and shape society. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. | Montoya, J. G., and O. Liesenfeld. “Toxoplasmosis.” The lancet 363.9425 (2004): 1965-1976. |
| Tucker, Abigail. The lion in the living room: How house cats tamed us and took over the world. Simon and Schuster, 2017. | Webster, Joanne P. “The effect of Toxoplasma gondii on animal behavior: playing cat and mouse.” Schizophrenia bulletin 33.3 (2007): 752-756. |
| Dubey, Jitender P. “The history of Toxoplasma gondii—the first 100 years.” Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 55.6 (2008): 467-475. | Dubey, Jitender Prakask. Toxoplasmosis of animals and humans. CRC press, 2016. |
| Dubey, J. P. “History of the discovery of the life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii.” International journal for parasitology 39.8 (2009): 877-882. | Paquet, Caroline, et al. “Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy: prevention, screening, and treatment.” Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada 35.1 (2013): 78-79 |
| Dubey, Jitender P. “The history and life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii.” Toxoplasma gondii. Academic Press, 2014. 1-17. | Robert-Gangneux, Florence, and Marie-Laure Dardé. “Epidemiology of and diagnostic strategies for toxoplasmosis.” Clinical microbiology reviews 25.2 (2012): 264-296. |
| Torrey, E. Fuller, and Robert H. Yolken. “Toxoplasma oocysts as a public health problem.” Trends in parasitology 29.8 (2013): 380-384. | Aguirre, A. Alonso, et al. “The one health approach to toxoplasmosis: epidemiology, control, and prevention strategies.” EcoHealth 16.2 (2019): 378-390. |
| Shwab, E. Keats, et al. “Human impact on the diversity and virulence of the ubiquitous zoonotic parasite Toxoplasma gondii.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.29 (2018): E6956-E6963. | Conrad, Patricia A., et al. “Transmission of Toxoplasma: clues from the study of sea otters as sentinels of Toxoplasma gondii flow into the marine environment.” International journal for parasitology 35.11-12 (2005): 1155-1168. |
| Toxoplasmosis; 2014; CIR; 1389; Hill, Dolores E.; Dubey, J. P.; Edited by Abbott, Rachel C.; van Riper, Charles, III; Enright, Elizabeth A. | Torgerson, Paul R., and Pierpaolo Mastroiacovo. “The global burden of congenital toxoplasmosis: a systematic review.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 91 (2013): 501-508. |
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