Duration of immunity to shedding of Toxoplasma gondii oocysts by cats

Abstract

Cats that have shed Toxoplasma gondii oocysts are considered to be immune to reshedding of oocysts. To investigate if this immunity persists in cats for 6 yr, 12 4-6-mo-old cats without T. gondii antibodies were inoculated orally with tissue cysts of the ME-49 strain (6 cats) and the TS-2 strain (6 cats) of T. gondii. All of them shed > or = 20 million oocysts between 4 and 13 days after feeding tissue cysts. Two cats became ill between 11 and 13 days after primary infection; 1 died on the 13th day, and the other had to be killed on the 11th day because of generalized acute toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma gondii oocysts were not found on the hair of 10 cats examined 7 days after cats had shed millions of oocysts. On day 39 after primary infection, 5 cats (2 infected with the ME-49 strain and 3 infected with the TS-2 strain) were challenged orally with tissue cysts of the ME-49 strain. None of the challenged cats shed oocysts. One cat died due to causes unrelated to toxoplasmosis. Seventy-seven months after primary infection, the remaining 9 cats were challenged orally with tissue cysts of the P89 strain of T. gondii. Four of these 9 cats re-shed T. gondii oocysts; 3 of them had been challenged also at 39 days after primary infection. Two control cats housed together with chronically infected cats for 6 yr remained seronegative for T. gondii; both of these shed oocysts after challenge with the P89 strain.