Isolation and molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from placental tissues of pregnant women who received toxoplasmosis treatment during an outbreak in southern Brazil

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 30;15(1):e0228442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228442. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan that has great genetic diversity and is prevalent worldwide. In 2018, an outbreak of toxoplasmosis occurred in Santa Maria, Brazil, which was considered the largest outbreak ever described in the world. This paper describes the isolation and molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from the placenta of two pregnant women with acute toxoplasmosis who had live births and were receiving treatment for toxoplasmosis during the outbreak. For this, placental tissue samples from two patients underwent isolation by mice bioassay, conventional PCR and genotyping using PCR-RFLP with twelve markers. Both samples were positive in isolation in mice. The isolate was lethal to mice, suggesting high virulence. In addition, the samples were positive in conventional PCR and isolates submitted to PCR-RFLP genotyping presented an atypical genotype, which had never been described before. This research contributes to the elucidation of this great outbreak in Brazil.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • Coccidiostats / therapeutic use*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Female
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Leucovorin / therapeutic use
  • Live Birth
  • Mice
  • Placenta / parasitology*
  • Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / drug therapy*
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / epidemiology
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / parasitology
  • Pyrimethamine / therapeutic use
  • Sulfadiazine / therapeutic use
  • Toxoplasma / genetics*
  • Toxoplasma / isolation & purification
  • Toxoplasmosis / drug therapy*
  • Toxoplasmosis / epidemiology
  • Toxoplasmosis / parasitology

Substances

  • Coccidiostats
  • Sulfadiazine
  • Leucovorin
  • Pyrimethamine

Grants and funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 to CEM, PhD Fellow.