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Trop Anim Health Prod (2010) 42:899903 DOI 10.1007/s11250-009-9505-6
Occurrence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in female cattle in south-west of Iran
Hossein Hamidinejat & Masoud Ghorbanpour & Leily Nabavi &
Mohammad Rahim Haji Hajikolaie & Mohammad Hossein Razi Jalali
Accepted: 11 November 2009 /Published online: 1 December 2009 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, is a significant disease in livestock and humans. In Iran, studies shows that T. gondii infection in humans is relatively high and prevalence is associated mainly with consumption of undercooked meat or meat products. We have examined 450 serum samples from female cattle distributed over all Ahvaz, the center of Khouzestan province, south-west of Iran. IgG antibodies to T. gondii were assayed by the modified agglutination test using whole tachyzoites ofT. gondii, and found in 71 (15.77%) of 450 cattle with titers of 1:25 in 38, 1:50 in 18, 1:100 in 11, 1:200 in three and 1:400 in one. Titers of antibodies were decreased in cattle over 2 years old. These results indicate that T. gondii infection in cattle of Khouzestan is relatively considerable, but not very high and consumption of beef may be a source of infection for humans in south-west of Iran.
Keywords Toxoplasma gondii . Cattle .
Seroprevalence . Modified agglutination test . Iran
AbbrevationsLAT Latex agglutination test MAT Modified agglutination test PCR Polymerase chain reaction
Introduction
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis of increasing concern in both human and warm-blooded animals. The disease is caused by an obligatory intracellular, protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii that is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, order Coccidia (Klevar 2007; Rorman et al. 2006) and cats are the most significant definitive and reservoir host of this parasite (Dubey 2008). In most adults, T. gondii does not cause serious illness. Blindness and mental retardation can result in congenitally infected children and severe disease in those with depressed immunity. Humans become infected with T. gondii mainly by ingesting uncooked meat containing viable tissue cysts or by ingesting food or water contaminated with oocysts from the feces of infected cats. Infected animals usually show cysts ofT. gondii in different body tissues and human can take infection due to consumption of such raw or under-cooked tissues (Dubey 2004, 2008). In a cross-
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