Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908), an intracellular parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, infects a third of the human population. Latent toxoplasmosis has been linked to altered immune responses, including elevated proinflammatory cytokines. In early pregnancy, the immune system adapts to balance inflammation and foetal tolerance. This study assessed whether pregnant women in the first trimester infected with Toxoplasma gondii have different cytokine levels than uninfected women. This study also examined whether women with discordant test results for toxoplasmosis represent a distinct group or a mixed group composed of infected women with unusually low levels of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies and uninfected women with high levels of cross-reacting antibodies. We measured 18 cytokines (IL-1β, IL-1ra, IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, IL-17A, Eotaxin, FGF basic, G-CSF, IFN-γ, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, PDGF-BB, RANTES, TNF-α) in 78 pregnant women, classified as Toxoplasma-positive, Toxoplasma-negative or Toxoplasma-discordant (negative by IgG ELISA, positive by complement fixation test [CFT]). Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified two factors, the first explaining 29.6% and the second 24.9% of the total variability in cytokine concentrations. Toxoplasma-positive women scored significantly higher in the second factor, primarily associated with cytokines linked to Th1-driven inflammation and cellular immunity. Specifically, these women exhibited elevated levels of IL-1β, IL-1ra, IL-2, FGF basic and PDGF-BB compared to Toxoplasma-negative women. This finding suggests that pregnant women with latent toxoplasmosis experience some degree of chronic inflammation. Additionally, our results indicate that Toxoplasma-discordant women are likely Toxoplasma-negative individuals with detectable anti-Toxoplasma IgM antibodies. However, as this study focused on pregnant women, further research is necessary to validate these conclusions in broader populations.

• Klíčová slova
• Toxoplasma gondii, cytokines, immunity, pregnancy,
• MeSH
• cytokiny krev   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• latentní infekce * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• parazitární komplikace těhotenství * imunologie   diagnóza   MeSH
• protilátky protozoální krev   MeSH
• sérologické testy MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• Toxoplasma imunologie   MeSH
• toxoplazmóza * diagnóza   imunologie   MeSH
• zánět * imunologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• těhotenství MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• cytokiny MeSH
• protilátky protozoální MeSH

OBJECTIVES: Several years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on immunity and the potential protective role of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination through trained immunity remain a subject of investigation. This study aimed to determine the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 on immune cells and the association between BCG vaccination, latent infections and COVID-19 severity and sepsis progression. METHODS: We conducted a prospective analysis of patients who recovered from mild/severe/critical COVID-19 (n = 97, 3-17 months after COVID-19) and sepsis patients (n = 64). First, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 and its severity on immune cell frequencies and expression of functional markers. Further, we analysed plasma titres of anti-Toxoplasma gondii/cytomegalovirus/BCG antibodies and their association with COVID-19 severity and sepsis outcome. To examine monocyte responses to secondary challenge, monocytes isolated from COVID-19 convalescent patients, BCG vaccinated and unvaccinated volunteers were stimulated with SARS-CoV-2 and LPS. RESULTS: Post-COVID-19 patients showed immune dysregulation regardless of disease severity characterised by altered expression of activation and functional markers in myeloid (CD39, CD64, CD85d, CD11b) and lymphoid cells (CD39, CD57, TIGIT). Strikingly, post-critical COVID-19 patients showed elevated expression of CD57 in CD8+ T cells compared to other severity groups. A trend toward improved outcomes in BCG-seropositive COVID-19/sepsis patients was observed, although this may be confounded by age differences between groups. In contrast, the monocyte response to stimulation appeared unaffected by COVID-19 severity. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the long-term alterations of immune cells in post-COVID-19 patients, emphasising the substantial impact of COVID-19 on immune function.

• Klíčová slova
• Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination, COVID‐19, Toxoplasma, cytomegalovirus, immune cells, sepsis,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Humans infected by Toxoplasma gondii express no specific symptoms but manifest higher incidence of many diseases, disorders and differences in personality and behavior. The aim of this study was to compare the political beliefs and values of Toxoplasma-infected and Toxoplasma-free participants. We measured beliefs and values of 2315 responders via an online survey (477 Toxoplasma-infected) using the Political Beliefs and Values Inventory (PI34). This study showed Toxoplasma-infected and Toxoplasma-free participants of our cross-sectional study differed in three of four factors of PI34, scoring higher in Tribalism and lower in Cultural liberalism and Anti-Authoritarianism. We found sex differences in political beliefs associated with Toxoplasma infection. Infected women scored higher in tribalism and lower in cultural liberalism, compared with the Toxoplasma-free control group, while infected men scored higher in economic equity. These results fit with sexual differences in behavior and attitude observed after toxoplasmosis infection. Controlling for the effect of worse physical health and mental health had little impact, suggesting that impaired health did not cause these changes. Rather than adaptation to prevalence of parasites, as suggested by parasite-stress theory, the differences might be side-effects of long-term mild inflammatory reaction. However, to get clear picture of the mild inflammation effects, more research focused on different infectious diseases is needed.

• Klíčová slova
• Toxoplasma gondii, infectious diseases, manipulation hypothesis, parasite threat, pathogen avoidance, political beliefs, stress,
• MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• osobnost MeSH
• průřezové studie MeSH
• sexuální chování MeSH
• Toxoplasma * MeSH
• toxoplazmóza * komplikace   epidemiologie   parazitologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Human populations, especially European, are polymorphic in the RHD gene. A significant fraction of their members carry no copy of the coding section of RHD gene, which results in their Rh-negative blood type. Theoretically, this polymorphism should be unstable. Carriers of the less frequent allele are penalized by reduced fertility because of the immunization of RhD-negative mothers by their RhD-positive babies, which results in hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn in their subsequent progeny. For about 90 years, some form of balancing selection has been suspected to sustain this polymorphism. Several recent studies showed that the RhD-positive heterozygotes express higher viability than both types of homozygotes. However, the genotype of subjects in these studies was estimated only by indirect methods. Here we compared the physical and mental health of 178 women and 86 men who were directly tested for their RHD genotype. The results showed that RhD-positive homozygotic women had worse and RhD-positive homozygotic men better physical health than RhD-negative homozygotes; the difference between RhD-negative homozygotes and heterozygotes was not significant. Our results confirmed that health of RhD-positive heterozygotes and homozygotes differ. Therefore, any result of the comparison of subjects with RhD-positive and RhD-negative phenotype depends on the heterozygote-to-homozygote ratio in the RhD-positive sample. It is, therefore, crucial to analyze the effects of RHD-genotypes, not phenotypes in future studies.

• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• duševní zdraví * MeSH
• genotyp * MeSH
• heterozygot * MeSH
• krevní skupiny - systém Rh-Hr genetika   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• sexuální faktory * MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• krevní skupiny - systém Rh-Hr MeSH
• Rho(D) antigen MeSH Prohlížeč

Latent infection of the globally spread parasite Toxoplasma gondii in humans has been associated with changes in personality and behavior. Numerous studies have investigated the effect of toxoplasmosis on depression, but their results are inconsistent. Our study focused on the effect of latent toxoplasmosis on depression in men and women in association with their fertility. In 2016-2018, we recruited clients (677 men and 664 women) of the Center for Assisted Reproduction and asked them to complete a standardized Beck Depression Inventory-II. In women without fertility problems, we found higher depression scores in Toxoplasma-positive than in Toxoplasma-negative (p = 0.010, Cohen's d = 0.48). Toxoplasma-positive infertile men, on the other hand, had lower depression scores than Toxoplasma-negative infertile men (p ≤ 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.48). Our results are consistent with the previously described effects of latent toxoplasmosis, which seem to go in opposite directions regarding the effect on personality and behavior of men and women. Our results could be explained by gender-contrasting reactions to chronic stress associated with lifelong infection. This suggests that due to gender differences in the impact of latent toxoplasmosis, future studies ought to perform separate analyses for women and men.

• Klíčová slova
• Beck Depression Inventory, Toxoplasma gondii, depression score, fertility,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite with domestic or free-living members of family Felidae known as the only definitive hosts of the parasite. The study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in selected population groups in Slovakia and to analyse the infection risk factors. Totally 1536 serum samples of voluntary respondents were examined by EIA Toxoplasma IgG (Test-Line Ltd., Clinical Diagnostics, Brno, Czech Republic). IgG antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 322 (21.0%) sera, with the highest seropositivity recorded among farmers (42.5%) and hunters (28.5%). According to age, the highest seropositivity was recorded in 12-18-year-old Roma children (46.2%), what confirms increased risk of infection in this minority that often lives in inadequate hygiene conditions. When only adult participants were taken into account, the highest seroprevalence was observed in the age group of ≥ 70 years. Higher risk of infection (p < 0.05) was connected with cat ownership, living in rural residency and consumption of raw meat and meat processing. The results underline the importance of preventive measures and ongoing need to improve the knowledge on toxoplasmosis in both professionals and public.

• MeSH
• imunoglobulin G krev   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• protilátky protozoální krev   MeSH
• průřezové studie MeSH
• rizikové faktory MeSH
• séroepidemiologické studie MeSH
• Toxoplasma imunologie   izolace a purifikace   MeSH
• toxoplazmóza diagnóza   epidemiologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Slovenská republika epidemiologie   MeSH
• Názvy látek
• imunoglobulin G MeSH
• protilátky protozoální MeSH

Many studies show that keeping cats and dogs has a positive impact on humans' physical and mental health and quality of life. The existence of this "pet phenomenon" is now widely discussed because other studies performed recently have demonstrated a negative impact of owning pets or no impact at all. The main problem of many studies was the autoselection-participants were informed about the aims of the study during recruitment and later likely described their health and wellbeing according to their personal beliefs and wishes, not according to their real status. To avoid this source of bias, we did not mention pets during participant recruitment and hid the pet-related questions among many hundreds of questions in an 80-minute Internet questionnaire. Results of our explorative study performed on a sample of 10,858 subjects showed that liking dogs has a weak positive association with quality of life. However, keeping pets, especially cats, and even more being injured by pets, were strongly negatively associated with many facets of quality of life. Our data also confirmed that infection by the cat parasite Toxoplasma had a very strong negative effect on quality of life, especially on mental health. However, the infection was not responsible for the observed negative effects of keeping pets, as these effects were much stronger in 1,527 Toxoplasma-free subjects than in the whole population. Any cross-sectional study cannot discriminate between a cause and an effect. However, because of the large and still growing popularity of keeping pets, the existence and nature of the reverse pet phenomenon deserve the outmost attention.

• MeSH
• domácí zvířata * MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• internet MeSH
• kočky * mikrobiologie   MeSH
• kvalita života * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mentální terapie MeSH
• pouto mezi člověkem a zvířetem MeSH
• průřezové studie MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• psi * mikrobiologie   MeSH
• rány a poranění etiologie   MeSH
• Toxoplasma MeSH
• toxoplazmóza etiologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• kočky * mikrobiologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• psi * mikrobiologie   MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the herpetic virus, which infects 45-100% people worldwide. Many reports suggest that CMV could impair cognitive functions of infected subjects. Here we searched for indices of effects of CMV on infected subjects' intelligence and knowledge. The Intelligence Structure Test I-S-T 2000 R was used to compare IQ of 148 CMV-infected and 135 CMV-free university students. Infected students expressed higher intelligence. Paradoxically, their IQ decreased with decreasing concentration of anti-CMV antibodies, which can be used, statistically, as a proxy of the time passed from the moment of infection in young subjects when the age of subjects is statistically controlled. The paradox of seemingly higher intelligence of CMV infected subjects could be explained by the presence of the subpopulation of about 5-10% CMV-positive individuals in the population of "CMV-negative students". These false negative subjects had probably not only the oldest infections and therefore the lowest concentration of anamnestic antibodies, but also the lowest intelligence among the infected students. Prevalence of CMV infection in all countries is very high, approaching sometimes 90%. Therefore, the total impact of CMV on human intelligence may be large.

• MeSH
• biologické markery MeSH
• cytomegalovirové infekce epidemiologie   psychologie   virologie   MeSH
• Cytomegalovirus * MeSH
• inteligence MeSH
• inteligenční testy MeSH
• kognice * MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• ochrana veřejného zdraví MeSH
• studenti * MeSH
• studie případů a kontrol MeSH
• teoretické modely MeSH
• univerzity * MeSH
• zdraví - znalosti, postoje, praxe MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• odvolaná publikace MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• biologické markery MeSH

The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii infects about one-third of the world's population. The consumption of raw meat, contact with cats, contact with soil, and ingestion of food or water contaminated with soil are considered to be the most important sources of infection. Still in most women who were infected during pregnancy, no definitive source of infection is found. In 2014-2016, independent sources of T. gondii infection were searched for by gathering epidemiological data from 1865 (519 infected) responders. Touching garden soil (odds ratio (OR) 3·14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·3-6·35), sustaining cat-related injuries (OR 2·16, 95% CI 1·25-3·74), and eating improperly washed root vegetables (OR 1·71, 95% CI 1·02-2·87), but not risky sexual behavior (OR 1·22, 95% CI 0·79-1·90), were the predictors of infection. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection had been increasing up to ages 35-50 in men and ages 50-54 in women. Past those ages, seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis has been decreasing. This suggests that the natural decrease of anamnestic antibodies concentrations over time leads to positivity-to-negativity seroconversion in many subjects. If this is true, then the prevalence of T. gondii infection in a general population and its potential impacts on public health could be much larger than generally believed.

• Klíčová slova
• Cats, STD, Toxoplasmosis, dogs, pets, risk factors, sexually transmitted diseases, zoonosis,
• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• prevalence MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• psi MeSH
• riskování * MeSH
• rizikové faktory MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• séroepidemiologické studie MeSH
• sexuální chování * MeSH
• Toxoplasma fyziologie   MeSH
• toxoplazmóza zvířat epidemiologie   parazitologie   MeSH
• toxoplazmóza epidemiologie   parazitologie   MeSH
• věkové faktory MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• psi MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika epidemiologie   MeSH
• Slovenská republika epidemiologie   MeSH

BACKGROUND: A recent study performed on 1.3 million patients showed a strong association between being bitten by a cat and probability of being diagnosed with depression. Authors suggested that infection with cat parasite Toxoplasma could be the reason for this association. METHOD: A cross sectional internet study on a non-clinical population of 5,535 subjects was undertaken. RESULTS: The subjects that reported having been bitten by a dog and a cat or scratched by a cat have higher Beck depression score. They were more likely to have visited psychiatrists, psychotherapists and neurologists in past two years, to have been previously diagnosed with depression (but not with bipolar disorder). Multivariate analysis of models with cat biting, cat scratching, toxoplasmosis, the number of cats at home, and the age of subjects as independent variables showed that only cat scratching had positive effect on depression (p = 0.004). Cat biting and toxoplasmosis had no effect on the depression, and the number of cats at home had a negative effect on depression (p = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: Absence of association between toxoplasmosis and depression and five times stronger association of depression with cat scratching than with cat biting suggests that the pathogen responsible for mood disorders in animals-injured subjects is probably not the protozoon Toxoplasma gondii but another organism; possibly the agent of cat-scratched disease - the bacteria Bartonella henselae.

• MeSH
• Bartonella henselae fyziologie   MeSH
• deprese mikrobiologie   MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• multivariační analýza MeSH
• nemoc z kočičího škrábnutí mikrobiologie   MeSH
• průřezové studie MeSH
• psi MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• kočky MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• psi MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH