Category Research project
  • Mikrobiologie

Toxoplasma gondii sources quantified

Project status
Completed
Project start
Jan 2020
Project end
Dec 2022
Acronym
EJP TOXOSOURCES
Department
Biologische Sicherheit
Website
https://onehealthejp.eu/jrp-toxosources/

Description and Objective

The project focuses on the environmentally resistant pathogen Toxoplasma gondii at the interfaces between humans, animals, food and the environment. The zoonotic parasite causes a high burden of disease in humans, including in Europe. It can also cause clinical disease in many animal species. The infection occurs through the oral ingestion of oocysts (via the environment) or of tissue cysts (via meat). The relative importance of these two major routes of transmission, as well as the specific sources of infection within these routes, have been unknown, in part due to a lack of appropriate methods. Especially the environment. Contamination of the environment with T. gondii oocysts has also not been sufficiently investigated and underestimated.TOXOSOURCES investigated the relative contributions of the different transmission routes and sources of T. gondii infection using multidisciplinary approaches. The project was intended to develope new methods and to give new insights with regard to T. gondii infections.

Result

The project filled relevant data and knowledge gaps, confirmed previously known sources of infection, and yielded data on new possible sources, such as contaminated ready-to eat salads. The exposureExposureTo glossary survey data will be useful also for other multi-country foodborne riskassessments. The new NGS-based typing tool is a major methodological advancement to identify outbreaks and trace sources, and was successfully applied on various sample matrices in pilot studies that increased our knowledge on molecular epidemiology of the zoonotic parasite.
The project outcome fully meets the objective of the proposal, and the results are of top scientific level at global standards. Due to the COVID-19-pandemic, the consortium had to adapt internal timelines, in particular those related to laboratory work due to lockdowns; the deviations of the original proposal were minor and are clearly justified in the final report.
Type of project

Third-party funded project

Research focus

Gesundheit von Mensch, Tier und Umwelt (One Health)

Organisational units and partners

Lead specialist group: Diagnostik, Erregercharakterisierung, Parasiten in Lebensmitteln (45)
Contact persons: Dr. Anne Mayer-Scholl
External partner: Statens Serum Institut, National Institute For Public Health and The Environment, Italian National Institute of Health, Institut für Epidemiologie, Robert Koch-Institut, Complutense University of Madrid, Technische Universität Dänemark, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety , University of Surrey, National Veterinary Institute, Sweden, National Institut for Agricultural and Veterinary Research, Portugal

Funding body and grant number

Europäische Union
Grant agreement 773830

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