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Article: The cat/pig toxoplasmosis connection.
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- February 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A sparkling, crisp fall day, a tidy enclosure where young hogs happily munch from brimming feed troughs, a plump farm cat sitting just outside the enclosure, calmly licking her paws and rubbing her whiskers: What's wrong with this picture?
J.P. Dubey's reply would probably be "plenty." Dubey is an Agricultural Research Service parasitologist and expert on Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that infects animals and humans worldwide.
Of all the creatures infected, cats are the only ones known to excrete T. gondii oocysts, a form of the parasite that easily withstands nature's harshness. And an uncovered feed bin would be a tempting spot for a wandering farm cat to ...