Original text of the book (The History and Life Cycle of Toxoplasma gondii, J.P. Dubey)

Paragraf 1 for paraphrase Infections by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii are widely prevalent in humans and other animals on all continents. There are many thousands of references to this parasite in the literature, and it is not possible to give equal treatment to all authors and discoveries. The objective of this chapter is, rather, to provide a history of the milestones in our acquisition of knowledge of the biology of this parasite. Paragraf 2&3 for Summary Nicolle and Manceaux (1908) found a protozoa in tissues of a hamster-like rodent, the gundi, Ctenodactylus gundi, which was being used for leishmaniasis research in the laboratory of Charles Nicolle at the Pasteur Institute in Tunis. They initially believed the parasite to be Leishmania, but soon realized that they had discovered a new organism and named it Toxoplasma gondii, based on the morphology (mod. L. toxo = arc or bow, plasma = life) and the host (Nicolle and Manceaux, 1909). Thus, its complete designation is Toxoplasma gondii. In retrospect, the correct name for the parasite should have been Toxoplasma gundii; Nicolle and Manceaux (1908) had incorrectly identified the host as Ctenodactylus gondi. Splendore (1908) discovered the same parasite in a rabbit in Brazil, also erroneously identifying it as Leishmania, but he did not name it.