title: Genotyping of samples from German patients with ocular, cerebral and systemic toxoplasmosis reveals a predominance of Toxoplasma gondii type II.
abstract: Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonosis transmitted from animals to humans world-wide. In order to determine Toxoplasma gondii genotypes in individuals living in Germany and to compare findings with those in animals, we analysed nine independent and unlinked genetic markers (nSAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico) by PCR-RFLP in 83 archived T. gondii-positive DNA samples from patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (n=35), toxoplasmic encephalitis (n=32), systemic toxoplasmosis after bone-marrow transplantation (n=15) and congenital toxoplasmosis (n=1). In 46 of these 83 samples the presence of T. gondii DNA was confirmed by conventional end-point PCR. Among these, 17 T. gondii-positive samples were typed at all nine loci. The majority (15/17, 88.2%) of these samples were of T. gondii type II (i.e., including both, the Apico type II and Apico type I variants). In addition, in one sample a T. gondii type II/type III allele combination and in another sample a T. gondii genotype displaying type III alleles at all markers was observed. In the remaining 11 samples, in which T. gondii could only be partially typed, exclusively type II (n=10) or type III (n=1) alleles were observed. Results of the present study suggest that the majority of patients in Germany are infected with type II T. gondii regardless of the clinical manifestation of toxoplasmosis. This finding is in accord with the predominance of type II T. gondii in oocysts isolated from cats and in tissues of other intermediate hosts in Germany.
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Epidemiology, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Südufer 10, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Daland C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Epidemiology, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Südufer 10, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Pavlo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maksimov
authors.affiliation: German National Consulting Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hotop
authors.affiliation: German National Consulting Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Groß
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Däubener
authors.affiliation: Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institute for Microbiology and Hygiene, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Liesenfeld
authors.affiliation: Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Ophthalmology, Campus Virchow Clinic, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pleyer
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Epidemiology, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Südufer 10, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Franz J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Conraths
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Epidemiology, National Reference Laboratory for Toxoplasmosis, Südufer 10, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany. Electronic address: gereon.schares@fli.bund.de.
authors.forename: Gereon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schares
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005838:Genotype; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: Bone marrow transplant; Chronic toxoplasmosis; Genotyping; Human; Reactivated toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasma gondii