Toxoplasma gondii is a tremendously well-evolved parasite, and as far as we know it can attack and infect any nucleated cell in the human body. This is not to say that we have failed to adapt weapons of our own. Certain phagocytic cells can actively engulf parasites and thus limit acute infection. In this issue of ICB, Han et al.1 describe this battle in a new level of detail. Using careful quantification of fluorescent parasites and the parasite protein GRA6 by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, they are able to discriminate between cells that have been actively infected and those that have aquired intracellular parasites by phagocytosis. Using this technique the authors show that the parasites in inflammatory monocytes are usually acquired by phagocytosis, while those in neutrophils are there predominantly as a result of active infection.