Toxoplasma gondii infection in Kyrgyzstan: seroprevalence, risk factor analysis, and estimate of congenital and AIDS-related toxoplasmosis.

Background: HIV-prevalence, as well as incidence of zoonotic parasitic diseases like cystic echinococcosis, has increased in the Kyrgyz Republic due to fundamental socio-economic changes after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The possible impact on morbidity and mortality caused by Toxoplasma gondii infection in congenital toxoplasmosis or as an opportunistic infection in the emerging AIDS pandemic has not been reported from Kyrgyzstan.

Methodology/principal Findings: We screened 1,061 rural and 899 urban people to determine the seroprevalence of T.

Echinococcosis, toxocarosis and toxoplasmosis screening in a rural community in eastern Kazakhstan.

Objective: To determine the extent of carnivore-transmitted parasitic zoonoses in a community in eastern Kazakhstan, a region where cystic echinococcosis (CE) re-emerged in recent years.

Methods: Cross sectional ultrasound study of 3126 human subjects to determine the extent of human cystic and alveolar echinococcosis (AE). Blood samples were taken from each subject and analysed for antibodies against Echinococcus, Toxocara and Toxoplasma spp.

First isolation and characterisation of Encephalitozoon cuniculi from a free-ranging rat (Rattus norvegicus).

The microsporidian species Encephalitozoon cuniculi can infect a wide variety of mammals including man. It is a common parasite in rabbits and several sporadic infections in laboratory rats have been described. Based on molecular data three E.