On 2013 Oct 21, John Boothroyd commented:

I find this an extremely exciting paper and one of the most important in Toxoplasma epidemiology in the past decade. For years, there has been debate about what fraction of toxoplasmosis infections in humans stems from ingestion of oocysts (in drinking water or on soil-contaminated food) vs. tissue cysts (in under-cooked meat, etc.). But until this paper, there was no way to do more than guess. Here, the authors report very exciting data showing that antibodies to an oocyst (sporozoite) protein are elicited and detectable in oocyst-initiated infections in animals and humans. Further work will be needed to determine how reliable it is but all the indications are that it is, in fact, a good predictor of oocyst-initiated vs. tissue-cyst-initiated infections. The results to follow could alter the public health message in very important ways and allow advice to be targeted to the most risky activities.

On 2013 Oct 21, John Boothroyd commented:

I find this an extremely exciting paper and one of the most important in Toxoplasma epidemiology in the past decade. For years, there has been debate about what fraction of toxoplasmosis infections in humans stems from ingestion of oocysts (in drinking water or on soil-contaminated food) vs. tissue cysts (in under-cooked meat, etc.). But until this paper, there was no way to do more than guess. Here, the authors report very exciting data showing that antibodies to an oocyst (sporozoite) protein are elicited and detectable in oocyst-initiated infections in animals and humans. Further work will be needed to determine how reliable it is but all the indications are that it is, in fact, a good predictor of oocyst-initiated vs. tissue-cyst-initiated infections. The results to follow could alter the public health message in very important ways and allow advice to be targeted to the most risky activities.