Preliminary characterisation of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from Zimbabwe, with stage-specific monoclonal antibodies

Cell-culture-derived clones of eight Toxoplasma gondii isolates from Zimbabwe were characterised in IFAT with a panel of five monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Each clone had been established from a single murine brain cyst. The antibodies were bradyzoite-specific (4.3), tachyzoite-specific (4.25, 5.1 and anti-P-30), or tachyzoite- and bradyzoite-specific (5.15). Their strong reactivity with the bradyzoite-specific mAb 4.3 and their weaker reactivity with the tachyzoite-specific 4.25, 5.1 and anti-P-30 indicated that all the isolates are probably of genetic type II. Each of the isolates reacted in the IFAT in a similar way to the Danish reference strain of T. gondii, SSI-119.