Veterinary vaccines against toxoplasmosis.

[congenital toxoplasmosis]

Toxoplasma gondii is a cosmopolitan protozoan parasite that infects a wide range of mammal and bird species . Common infection leads to high economic (e .g ., abortions in sheep ) and human (e .g ., congenital toxoplasmosis or neurotoxoplasmosis in humans ) losses . With one exception (Toxovax for sheep ), there are no vaccines to prevent human or animal toxoplasmosis . The paper presents the current state and challenges in the development of a vaccine against toxoplasmosis , designed for farm animals either bred for consumption or commonly kept on farms and involved in parasite transmission . So far , the trials have mostly revolved around conventional vaccines and , compared with the research using laboratory animals (mainly mice ), they have not been very numerous . However , the results obtained are promising and could be a good starting point for developing an effective vaccine to prevent toxoplasmosis .