Blood and Tissue Protozoacontinued Clinical Microbiology Review 260
ORGANISM CLASSIFICATION TRANSMISSION DIAGNOSIS OTHER
Toxoplasma gondii
Leishmania
Cat is definitive host.
Congenital infection
causes birth defects &
mental retardation.
Major cause of en-
cephalitis in AIDS
patients.
Obligate intracellular
parasite. Causes kala
azar, cutaneous &
mucocutaneous
leishmaniasis.
Coccidian
Flagellate
Ingestion of under-
cooked meat or
oocysts from cat feces,
transplacental, organ
transplants
Sand flies
Serological tests. PCR.
Amastigote forms in WBCs & cells of RE
system.
continued...
(From Leventhal R, Cheadle RF. Medical Parasitology:
A Self-Instructional Text, 5th ed. Philadelphia: FA Davis;
2002:111.)
