Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection caused by which organism?

• A. Plasmodium falciparum
• B. Toxoplasma gondii
• C. Entamoeba histolytica
• D. Giardia lamblia

Answer: (B)

Toxoplasmosis is caused by a protozoan parasite named Toxoplasma gondii. This intracellular organism can form tissue cysts in muscle and brain and is typically acquired by eating undercooked meat or by ingesting oocysts from cat feces; it can also be transmitted from mother to fetus. In healthy individuals it may cause few or no symptoms, but it can cause serious eye and brain infections in immunocompromised patients and congenital problems if a mother is infected during pregnancy. The other listed organisms are responsible for different diseases: one causes malaria, another amebic dysentery, and the last one giardiasis.