title: The effect of cobalt-60 irradiation on the infectivity of Toxoplasma gondii.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii cysts in the tissues of experimentally infected mice and pigs were irradiated with cobalt-60 at various doses and used to infect mice and kittens. Loss of parasite infectivity was confirmed following irradiation whereas control animals inoculated with non-irradiated infected tissues became infected. Experiments were repeated to calculate the minimal effective dose (MED) of irradiation to eradicate parasite infectivity. The MED for the Chinese NT strain and the American ME-49 and TS-2 strains of T. gondii cysts in mouse and pig tissues was approximately 0.6 kGy. The infectivity for mice of NT strain bradyzoites irradiated at a dose of 0.45 kGy was reduced 10,000-fold. Such irradiation may be valuable in practical operations to control T. gondii in pork products.
authors: Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Zheijang Academy of Medical Sciences, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors: C C
authors: CC
authors: Song
authors: X Z
authors: XZ
authors: Yuan
authors: L Y
authors: LY
authors: Shen
authors: X X
authors: XX
authors: Gan
authors: J Z
authors: JZ
authors: Ding
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000469:parasitology; D002415:Cats; D002681:China; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D013045:Species Specificity; D013552:Swine; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes