Wolf, Cowen and Page reviewed additional cases and concluded that T. gondii produced recognizable symptoms and could be transmitted from mother to child.The first adult case of toxoplasmosis was reported in 1940 with no neurological signs. Pinkerton and Weinman reported the presence of Toxoplasma in a 22-year-old man from Peru who died from a subsequent bacterial infection and fever.In 1948, a serological dye test was created by Sabin and Feldman based on the ability of the patients antibodies to alter staining of Toxoplasma. The Sabin Feldman Dye Test is now the gold standard for identifying Toxoplasma infection.Transmission of Toxoplasma by eating raw or undercooked meat was demonstrated by Desmonts et al. in 1965 Paris. Desmonts observed that the therapeutic consumption of raw beef or horse meat in a tuberculosis hospital was associated with a 50% per year increase in Toxoplasma antibodies. This means that more T. gondii was being transmitted through the raw meat. In 1974, Desmonts and Couvreur showed that infection during the first two trimesters produces most harm to the fetus, that transmission depended on when mothers were infected during pregnancy, that mothers with antibodies before pregnancy did not transmit the infection to the fetus, and that spiramycin lowered the transmission to the fetus.Toxoplasma gained more attention in the 1970s with the rise of immune-suppressant treatment given after organ or bone marrow transplants and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Patients with lowered immune system function are much more susceptible to disease.
Jaroslav Flegr (2011). Pozor, Toxo!. Academia, Prague, Czech Republic. ISBN 978-80-200-2022-2. External links
How a cat-borne parasite infects humans (National Geographic)
Toxoplasmosis at Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy Professional Edition
Toxoplasmosis at Health Protection Agency (HPA), United Kingdom
Pictures of Toxoplasmosis Medical Image Database
Video-Interview with Professor Robert Sapolsky on Toxoplasmosis and its effect on human behavior (24:27 min)
"Toxoplasmosis". MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine.