ABSTRACT
The outbreak of human toxoplasmosis can be attributed to ingestion of food contaminated with Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasmosis recently increased in domestic and stray dogs and cats. It prompted studies on the zoonotic infectious diseases transmitted via these animals. Sero- and antigen prevalences of T. gondii in dogs and cats were surveyed using ELISA and PCR, and B1 gene phylogeny was analyzed in this study. Toxoplasmosis antibodies were measured on sera of 403 stray cats, 947 stray dogs, 909 domestic cats, and 2,412 domestic dogs collected at nationwide regions, Korea from 2017 to 2019. In addition, whole blood, feces, and tissue samples were also collected from stray cats (1,392), stray dogs (686), domestic cats (3,040), and domestic dogs (1,974), and T. gondii-specific B1 gene PCR was performed. Antibody prevalence of stray cats, stray dogs, domestic cats, and domestic dogs were 14.1%, 5.6%, 2.3%, and 0.04%, respectively. Antigen prevalence of these animals was 0.5%, 0.2%, 0.1%, and 0.4%, respectively. Stray cats revealed the highest infection rate of toxoplasmosis, followed by stray dogs, domestic cats, and domestic dogs. B1 gene positives were 5 of stray cats, and identified to high/moderate pathogenic Type I/III group. These findings enforce that preventive hygienic measure should be strengthened at One Health level in dogs and cats, domestic and stray, to minimize human toxoplasmosis infections.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Laser cordectomy is considered one of the best techniques for the treatment of early stage glottic cancer. But voice outcome and quality of life (QOL) after laser cordectomy is controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the voice outcome after laser cordectomy in glottic cancer and its association to QOL. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: 43 patients who underwent laser cordectomy from January 2002 to December 2008 were enrolled in this study. We evaluated the objective and subjective voice outcomes using acoustic analysis, aerodynamic study and voice handicap index (VHI). We also assessed QOL using EORTC QLQ-C30/H&N35 questionnaire. We compared the voice outcome according to the type of laser cordectomy and analyzed correlation between voice outcome and QOL. RESULTS: Harmonic to noise ratio, maximum phonation time and VHI of patients treated with Types I, II cordectomy was significantly improved after operation. Functional VHI after Types I, II cordectomy was significantly lower than Types III-VI cordectomy. The postoperative QOL score of glottic cancer patients were not statistically different between Type I, II and Type III-VI cordectomy. QOL score had a positive correlation with postoperative VHI. CONCLUSION: Objective and subjective voice outcomes after laser cordectomy showed favorable results, especially in patients who were treated with Types I, II laser cordectomy. QOL scores were correlated with VHI scores, but not with acoustic parameters.