Toxoplasma Research at Moredun

Host Pathogen Interactions

Characterisation of host-pathogen interactions in pregnant and non-pregnant animals infected with T. gondii
Maintaining the Moredun Toxoplasma isolates through complete life cycle which allows oocyst production for research purposes. Maintenance of several different tachyzoite isolates.
Comparative genomic, proteonomic and biological studies between T. gondii and N. caninum.

Vaccination Strategies

Infection models of toxoplasmosis in sheep and mice have been developed to allow testing of candidate vaccines to protect against congenital infection and acute infection.
Efficacy studies conducted at Moredun led to the licensing of Toxovax, a live vaccine to help prevent Toxoplasma associated abortion in sheep and goats.

Diagnostics

Several diagnostic methods have been developed including: ELISA and IFAT to test for specific antibodies in sheep; Immuno-histochemistry; PCR diagnostics.

Epidemiology

A Toxoplasma prevalence study on 125 farms, from across Scotland with a total of 3369 sheep tested, revealed that all flocks had exposure to Toxoplasma infection.
Identification of ferrets, polecats, stoats, foxes, badger and mink as reservoir hosts for Toxoplasma infection in Scotland.

Prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in food animals.
Prevalence of Toxoplasma in food products.
Risks to humans from consumption of contaminated food products.
Environmental contamination of Toxoplasma oocysts and parasite survival.
Risk of Toxoplasma infection to sea mammals around the UK coastline arising from high levels of environmental contamination.
Identification of Toxoplasma genotypes found in UK livestock and wildlife.
Establish transmission routes of Toxoplasma through different hosts.