Toxoplasmosis is one of the more common parasitic zoonoses world-wide. Its causative
agent, Toxoplasma gondii, is a facultatively heteroxenous, polyxenous protozoon that has
developed several potential routes of transmission within and between different host
species. If first contracted during pregnancy, T. gondii may be transmitted vertically by
tachyzoites that are passed to the foetus via the placenta. Horizontal transmission of T.
gondii may involve three life-cycle stages, ie ingesting infectious oocysts from the …