Scientists have moved a step closer to winning the battle against one of the most common human parasites, Toxoplasma gondii. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that the parasite uses a hormone from the plant world to decide when to grow and when to remain dormant.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite found in a variety of places. That includes contaminated kitchen surfaces or utensils that have come in contact with raw meat, drinking contaminated water, dirt in people's yards and the feces of cats that are infected and, more rarely, an infected organ transplant or blood transfusion

Scientists in Britain are conducting research to determine a cause of why a common parasite Toxoplasma is harmless to most people, while causing severe illness in others.

Toxoplasma is a genus of parasitic protozoa whose definitive host is cats but which can be carried by the vast majority of warm-blooded animals, including humans

A recent study compiled by researchers from the Charles University in the Czech Republic revealed that women infected with a parasite, Toxoplasma, found in cat feces are more likely to give birth to boys.

According to researchers, the Toxoplasma positive mothers gave birth to more boys than did Toxoplasma negative women. The increased survival of male embryos in infected women may be explained by toxoplasmosis' modulating and suppressing effects on the immune system