parasites

Economic holobiont: Influence of parasites, microbiota and chemosignals on economic behavior

September 3, 2018
Houdek, P.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2018; 12

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Toxoplasma gondii exposure and Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study

October 3, 2017
Alvarado-Esquivel, C., Mendez-Hernandez, E. M., Salas-Pacheco, J. M., Ruano-Calderon, L. A., Hernandez-Tinoco, J., Arias-Carrion, O., Sanchez-Anguiano, L. F., Castellanos-Juarez, F. X., Sandoval-Carrillo, A. A., Liesenfeld, O., Ramos-Nevarez, A.
Bmj Open 2017; 7

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Objectives: To determine the association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and Parkinson's disease and to investigate whether T. gondii seropositivity is associated with the general characteristics of patients with Parkinson's disease. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Cases and controls were enrolled in Durango City, Mexico. Participants: 65 patients with Parkinson's disease and 195 age-and gender-matched control subjects without Parkinson's disease. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Serum samples of participants were analysed for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies by commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassays. Prevalence of T. gondii DNA was determined in seropositive subjects using PCR. The association between clinical data and infection was examined by bivariate analysis. Results: Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were found in 6/65 cases (9.2%) and in 21/195 controls (10.8%) (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.32 to 2.18; p=0.81). The frequency of high (>150 IU/mL) antibody levels was similar among cases and controls (p=0.34). None of the anti-T. gondii IgG positive cases and four of the anti-T. gondii IgG positive controls had anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies (p=0.54). The prevalence of T. gondii DNA was comparable in seropositive cases and controls (16.7% and 25%, respectively; p=1.0). Seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was associated with a young age onset of disease (p=0.03), high Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale scores (p=0.04) and depression (p=0.02). Seropositivity to T. gondii infection was lower in patients treated with pramipexole than in patients without this treatment (p=0.01). However, none of the associations remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: The results do not support an association between T. gondii infection and Parkinson's disease. However, T. gondii infection might have an influence on certain symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Further research to elucidate the role of T. gondii exposure on Parkinson's disease is warranted.

Toxoplasma gondii-infected subjects report an obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosis more often and score higher in obsessive-compulsive inventory

September 27, 2017
Flegr, J., Horáček, J.
European Psychiatry 2017; 40: 82-87

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Toxoplasma-infected subjects report an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder diagnosis more often and score higher in Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory

May 11, 2017
Flegr, J., Horacek, J.
Academy of Management and Perspectives 2017; 31: 63-81

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Mental Health Disorders Associated with Foodborne Pathogens

January 4, 2016
Bolton, D. J., Robertson, L. J.
Journal of Food Protection 2016, 79: 2005-2017

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Human infections with foodborne pathogenic organisms are relatively well described in terms of their overt physical symptoms, such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, fever, and associated sequelae. Indeed, some of these are key for diagnosis and treatment, although it should be noted that, for some foodborne pathogens, the physical symptoms might be more diffuse, particularly those associated with some of the foodborne parasites. In contrast, the impact of these pathogens on mental health is less well described, and symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and general malaise are usually ignored when foodborne infections are recorded. Despite this, it is generally accepted that there are several psychiatric disorders of unknown etiology that may be associated with microbial pathogens. Depression, autism, hypochondriasis and anxiety, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome probably have multiple contributing causes, among which foodborne pathogens may play a decisive or contributory role, possibly sharing pathophysiological pathways with other environmental triggers. This review focuses on foodborne parasites and bacterial pathogens. Some foodborne parasites, such as metacestodes of Taenia soliunz and tissue cysts (bradyzoites) of Toxoplasma gondii, may affect mental health by directly infecting the brain. In contrast, bacterial infections and other parasitic infections may contribute to mental illness via the immune system and/or by influencing neurotransmission pathways. Thus, cytokines, for example, have been associated with depression and schizophrenia. However, infectious disease models for psychiatry require a more complete understanding of the relationship between psychiatric disorders and microbial triggers. This article reviews the current state of knowledge on the role of foodborne parasitic and bacterial pathogens in mental illness and identifies some of the gaps that should be addressed to improve diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues that are not solely related to psychiatric factors.

Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and cognitive functions in school-aged children

October 6, 2015
Mendy, A., Vieira, E. R., Albatineh, A. N., Gasana, J.
Parasitology 2015; 142: 1221-1227

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Low titer of antibody against Toxoplasma gondii may be related to resistant to cancer

October 6, 2015
Seyedeh, M. S., Nahid, S., Nahid, M., Shima, D. P., Morteza, Y., Hossein, Y. D.
Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics 2015; 11: 305-307.

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Difference of neuro- and immunomodulatory steroids and selected hormone and lipid concentrations between Toxoplasma-free and Toxoplasma-infected schizophrenia patients

September 27, 2014
Flegr, J., Hampl, R., Bicíková, M., Ripova, D., Mohr, P.
Neuroendocrinology Letters 2014; 35: 20-27

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OBJECTIVES : Toxoplasma gondii , the protozoan parasite infecting about 30% population worldwide, is suspected to be the etiological agent of certain form of schizophrenia disease. To x o p l a s m a is known to change levels of certain neu- rotransmitters, cytokines and several hormones in both infected animals and humans. A common feature of toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia is a disorder of immune system. METHODS: Here we studied the levels of five neuro- and immunomodulatory steroids, selected hormones and lipids in sera of 173 schizophrenia patients. RESULTS: To x o p l a s m a infected schizophrenia patients expressed only insignifi- cantly lower concentration of neuro- and immunomodulatory DHEA metabo- lites. Infected women had higher concentration of glucose while infected men had higher concentration of cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. No significant effect of human cytomegalovirus infection on the concentration of the above parameters was observed. The difference in the concentration of DHEA metabolites faded with the decrease of the concentration of anti- To x o p l a s m a IgG antibodies (i.e. with the duration of To x o p l a s m a infection) while the difference in the concentra- tion of cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol increased with the decrease of the con- centration of anti- To x o p l a s m a IgG antibodies. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in male (53.2%) but not female (29.8%) schizophrenia patients was unusually high in comparison with prevalence of toxoplasmosis in a general population. CONCLUSION: Our results provided an explanation for seemingly decreasing prevalence of toxoplasmosis in schizophrenia patients observed in current studies (increased concerns about the rights of patients result- ing in absence of non-cooperative To x o p l a s m a -positive patients in the study population) and suggest possible explanation for reported positive correlation between prevalence of toxoplasmosis and incidence of cardio- vascular diseases (accelerated atherosclerotic develop- ment due to increased level of cholesterol and LDL in To x o p l a s m a infected humans).

Toxoplasma gondii: bystander or cofactor in rheumatoid arthritis

October 11, 2013
Fischer, S., Agmon-Levin, N., Shapira, Y., Katz, B. S., Graell, E., Cervera, R., Stojanovich, L., Puerta, J. A. G., Sanmarti, R., Shoenfeld, Y.
Immunologic Research 2013; 56: 287-292

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Association between seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii, scholastic development of children and risk factors for T-gondii infection.

October 10, 2013
Ferreira, E. C., Marchioro, A. A., Guedes, T. A., Mota, D. C. G. A., Guilherme, A. L. F., de Araujo, S. M.
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2013; 107: 390-396.

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Toxoplasma gondii infection and suicide attempts a case-control study in psychiatric outpatients

October 10, 2013
Alvarado-Esquivel, C., Sanchez-Anguiano, L. F., Arnaud-Gil, C. A., Lopez-Longoria, J. C., Molina-Espinoza, L. F., Estrada-Martinez, S. Liesenfeld, O. Hernandez-Tinoco, J. Sifuentes-Alvarez, A. Salas-Martinez, C.
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2013; 201: 948-952.

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Prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in patients with autoimmune diseases

October 11, 2012
Shapira, Y., Agmon-Levin, N., Selmi, C., Petrikova, J., Barzilai, O., Ram, M., Bizzaro, N., Valentini, G., Matucci-Cerinic, M., Anaya, J. M., Katz, B. S. P., Shoenfeld, Y.
Journal of Autoimmunity 2012; 39: 112-116

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The identification of etiological factors in the induction of autoimmunity has remained elusive despite an enormous effort at dissection of the molecular structure of the target antigens and effector mechanisms. One characteristic feature of autoantigens is their repetitive structure as well as their conservation and evolution. Toxoplasma (T.)gondii is a primitive protozoan. We hypothesized that patients with autoimmune disease would have broad reactions against Toxoplasma antigens based on autoantigen conservation. To address this issue, we assessed serologic evidence of reactivity to Toxoplasma gondii along with a large profile of autoantibodies in patients with various autoimmune diseases (AID). We included sera of 1514 patients with 11 different AID collected from referral centers in Europe and Latin America as well as from 437 geographically matched controls, for the prevalence of anti Toxoplasma antibodies (ATxA) IgG and IgM and serum autoantibodies utilizing the BioPlex 2200 system (Bio- Rad Laboratories, USA). Serum ATxA IgG were positive in 42% of patients with AID versus 29% of controls (p < 0.0001). Among Europeans, ATxA IgG were associated with anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS; p < 0.0001), cryoglobulinemia (p < 0.0001), ANCA-associated vasculitides (p < 0.01), autoimmune thyroid diseases (p < 0.0001), systemic sclerosis (SSc; p < 0.0001) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA; p < 0.0001). Of note, Latin American RA sera exhibited similar frequency of ATxA IgG as controls. ATxA IgM were more prevalent in European patients with APS (p < 0.01), SSc (p < 0.05) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, p < 0.05) than in controls. Further, in AID patients the presence of ATxA correlated with autoantibodies characteristic of APS (anti-cardiolipin, B2GPI, complex of cardiolipin- B2GPI, prothrombin, phosphatydilethanolamine), and of SSc (anti-centromere, Scl-70). Our findings suggest that T. gondii may contribute to the pathogenesis of AID. This interaction may depend on or explain observed geoepidemiological variance in AID. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Epidemiological evidences from China assume that psychiatric-related diseases may be associated with Toxoplasma gondii infection

January 4, 2007
Zhu, S., Guo, M. F., Feng, Q. C., Fan, J. M.,
Neuroendocrinology Letters, 2007, 28: 115-120

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Toxoplasma gondii & Human Phenotype

Compendium of Known Effects and Ongoing Research

Toxoplasma gondii exposure and Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study

Toxoplasma gondii-infected subjects report an obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosis more often and score higher in obsessive-compulsive inventory

Toxoplasma-infected subjects report an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder diagnosis more often and score higher in Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory

Mental Health Disorders Associated with Foodborne Pathogens

Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and cognitive functions in school-aged children

Low titer of antibody against Toxoplasma gondii may be related to resistant to cancer

Difference of neuro- and immunomodulatory steroids and selected hormone and lipid concentrations between Toxoplasma-free and Toxoplasma-infected schizophrenia patients

Toxoplasma gondii: bystander or cofactor in rheumatoid arthritis

Association between seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii, scholastic development of children and risk factors for T-gondii infection.

Toxoplasma gondii infection and suicide attempts a case-control study in psychiatric outpatients

Prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in patients with autoimmune diseases

Serological survey of Toxoplasma gondii in schizophrenia patients referred to Psychiatric Hospital, Sari City, Iran

May Toxoplasma gondii increase suicide attempt – preliminary results in Turkish subjects?

Sex-dependent toxoplasmosis-associated differences in testosterone concentration in humans

Epilepsy and seropositivity rates of Toxocara canis and Toxoplasma gondii