
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
Flinders University Logo Flinders University Logo
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Computer science and information technology
    • Creative arts and media
    • Criminology
    • Defence and national security
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanities and social sciences
    • Innovation and enterprise
    • International relations and political science
    • Languages and culture
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing and midwifery
    • Psychology
    • Science
    • Social work
    • Sport

    I am...

    • a high school student
    • a non-school leaver
    • a future honours student
    • a future postgraduate student
    • a future research student
    • a future online student
    • a future Indigenous student
    • an international student
    • a parent
    • a school counsellor/teacher
    Explore
    Admission pathways
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Creative arts
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Health sciences
    • Humanities
    • Information technology
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing
    • Psychology
    • Public health
    • Science
    • Social sciences
    • Social work

    International websites

    • China
    • Vietnam
    Explore Flinders
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research Changing Lives

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research impact
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research Changing Lives

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research impact
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Engage

    I want to...

    • Engage with us
    • Connect with students
    • Locate a clinic
    • Book a campus venue
    • Find a tender
    • Give to Flinders
    • Work at Flinders
    • Participate in a research study
    • See what's on
    • Shop Flinders merchandise

    Related links

    • Flinders New Venture Institute
    • Alumni
    • Health2Go
    • Flinders University Museum of Art
    • Flinders One Sport and Fitness
    Business and government
    Community
    Culture
    International
  • Alumni

    I want to...

    • Join an alumni network
    • Establish an alumni network
    • Share a memory
    • Access career services
    • Order a transcript
    • Give to Flinders
    • Update my details
    • Find a classmate
    • Shop Flinders merchandise
    Our alumni
    Benefits and services
    Get involved
    Stay connected
  • Giving

    Donate today

    • Donate online
    • Donate by mail
    • Giving online FAQs (PDF)
    • Staff Workplace Giving Program
    • Contact us

    Ways to give

    • Give in celebration or in memory
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Giving from overseas
    • Give a cultural gift
    • Get involved

    Donate to
    Why give
    Our donors
  • About

    The 2025 agenda

    • Vision and mission
    • Our strategic plan
    • Our values and ethos
    • Flinders Village

    Governance and leadership

    • University Council
    • Chancellor
    • Vice-Chancellor

    Our organisation

    • Colleges
    • Library
    • Professional services
    • Staff directory

    Campus and locations

    • Sustainability at Flinders
    • Bedford Park
    • Tonsley
    • Victoria Square
    • Flinders in the NT
    • Flinders at Festival Plaza
    Fast facts
    History
    Structure
    Contact us
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
  • You have no saved courses.

    Continue to explore your course options.

     
    Explore our courses

    Your saved courses

    {{{courseName}}}
    mail_outline
    delete
    View all saved courses
  • Quick links 
    • Current students
    • Staff
    • Library
    • Flinders dashboard (Okta)
    • Ask Flinders
    • Flinders Learning Online (FLO)
    • Parking
    • Campus map: Bedford Park
    • Staff directory
    • Jobs at Flinders
    • Shop Flinders merchandise

 
  • Research 

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research Changing Lives

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
  • Research impact 
    • Research awards
  • Institutes & centres
  • Partner with us
  • Participate in research
  • Labs & facilities

Eye for danger.

Tackling a devastating eye condition that comes in many forms.

Fearless Research

Ophthalmologist Justine Smith has a message that may have you rethinking your taste for rare steak.

The Strategic Professor in Eye and Vision Health at Flinders University researches a devastating condition called uveitis – an inflammation of the interior of the eye that is a common cause of blindness.

Uveitis is not one disease, Professor Smith, a clinician as well as a researcher, explains. Rather it is a group of diseases divided into the infectious variety, caused by pathogens including Ebola, dengue and Zika viruses, and non-infectious inflammation akin to diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, but in the eye.

There is even a uveitis that is a form of lymphoma that occurs in the eye and looks like inflammation that masks a cancer of the white blood cells.

But where does the rare steak come in?

Professor Justine Smith

Professor Justine Smith

FHMRI Eye and Vision

Email

The most common infectious uveitis is ocular toxoplasmosis caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

It is probably best known for being carried by cats, but the parasite can also be eaten by grazing animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs, and end up in our food chain.

“We can catch Toxoplasma from the cat, but the more likely way to catch it is by eating your meat undercooked,” says Professor Smith.

Repeated occurrences of Toxoplasma-induced inflammation of the retina can lead to permanent scarring and blindness.

Professor Smith’s recent research suggests the condition is more prevalent than we thought.

“Eye doctors know it’s common because they see it in their clinics, but other doctors don't think it's common because they don't hear about it,” she says. “We wanted to show that it really was a common problem.”

She turned to the data from the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study (BHAS), a large multidisciplinary project investigating the causes of and risk factors for a wide range of conditions of public health importance in an ageing population.

“We can catch Toxoplasma from the cat, but the more likely way to catch it is by eating your meat undercooked,”

Professor Smith and her team screened more than 5,000 eye photographs and estimated that one in 150 Australians has a Toxoplasma scar in their retina, making it surprisingly common for a disease of which few would consider themselves to be at risk.

The Professor’s other findings, though, suggest why.

“Separately, we did a project where we went down to the local supermarket looking for Toxoplasma in meat,” she says “We sampled lamb mince and found that, conservatively, 40% was positive and less conservatively, maybe two-thirds.

“So, you have to cook your meat.”

Alternatively, if you want to eat meat rare, Professor Smith advises to freeze it before you cook it, which is another way of killing Toxoplasma.

That’s the easy part as, once infected, there is no drug or vaccine that can eradicate the parasite.

“There are a lot of anti-microbials that will act against the parasite, but none of them are curative. Once you've been infected with Toxoplasma, you carry it for life like the herpes virus.”

However, Professor Smith says treatment can minimise damage.

“Part of the damage is the caused by the reactive inflammation inside the eye against the parasite, and so we treat patients with anti-inflammatories, usually corticosteroid-based drugs, drugs, along with the anti-microbials.

“We can inject them into the eye or give them to the patient by mouth.”

In the search for a better solution, Professor Smith used her myriad international connections to form a worldwide study group of almost 200 uveitis specialists to describe their approach to tackling ocular toxoplasmosis.

They published a paper this year, effectively providing a blueprint for how to manage the disease.

Back home, Professor Smith is working on the only study in the world using human eye tissue to study the mechanisms of Toxoplasma infection.

“At Flinders University, we have unique access to human eye tissue and we isolate different cells from that eye tissue,” she says. "That's really important because humans have a different response and recognition system for the parasite than animals.”

Thanks to that work, we now have a good understanding of how the parasite gets into the eye, moves across the blood vessel walls, and infects retinal cells.

Meanwhile, she continues to research the human cost of the disease around the world, which may be more devastating than we thought. A collaboration with the University of São Paulo, Brazil, is leveraging the country’s big population to study a large cohort of patients.

“If you take all the patients that come to the clinic with ocular toxoplasmosis, a quarter of them are blind in one of their eyes,” Professor Smith adds, underscoring the importance of her mission.

“There are a lot of anti-microbials that will act against the parasite, but none of them are curative. Once you've been infected with Toxoplasma, you carry it for life like the herpes virus.”

FHMRI Eye and Vision

Professor Justine Smith

Professor Justine Smith

PREVIOUS

Challenging the system

Previous

NEXT 

Forget them not

next

Download your free copy of Fearless Research

Download Magazine

Flinders University Logo

Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042

South Australia | Northern Territory
Global | Online

Information for

  • Future students
  • Alumni
  • Media
  • Business and community
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • External contractors

Directories

  • Contact us
  • Campus and locations
  • Staff directory
  • Colleges
  • Library
  • Research Institutes and Centres

Follow Flinders

Facebook - Flinders University Twitter - Flinders University YouTube - Flinders University Instagram - Flinders University LinkedIn - Flinders University

Brand SA logo Innovative Research University logo Indigenous communities

Website feedback

Disclaimer

Accessibility

Privacy

CRICOS Provider: 00114A      TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12097      TEQSA category: Australian University

Last Updated: 18 Oct 2022
Fearless Logo

This website uses cookies

Flinders University uses cookies to ensure website functionality, personalisation, and for a variety of purposes described in the website privacy statement. For details about these cookies and how to set your cookie preferences, refer to our website privacy statement.

You consent to the use of our cookies if you proceed.

Accept and continue