Toxoplasma gondii in sympatric wild herbivores and carnivores: epidemiology of infection in the Western Alps

Particle and Fibre Toxicology

Stefania Zanet¹  Anna Trisciuoglio¹  Fabio Bosio¹  Ezio Ferroglio¹ 

[1] Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie, Università degli Studi di Torino, via L. da Vinci 44 10095, Grugliasco, (TO), Italy

关键词: Italy;    Livestock;    Wildlife;    ELISA;    PCR;    Toxoplasma gondii;   

Others  :  807109
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-3305-7-196

 received in 2014-03-03, accepted in 2014-04-14,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan parasite that is able to infect almost all warm blooded animals. In Europe, the domestic cat is the main definitive host. Worldwide, 6 billion people are infected with this parasite. The goal of our research is to evaluate the prevalence of T. gondii infection in wild animals from a previously unsampled area in Northern Italy where 0.1% of women seroconvert during pregnancy each year.

Methods

We sampled and tested skeletal muscle and central nervous system tissue of 355 wild animals by PCR (n = 121 roe deer Capreolus capreolus, n = 105 wild boar Sus scrofa, n = 94 red fox Vulpes vulpes, n = 22 alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra, n = 13 red deer Cervus elaphus).

Results

The overall prevalence of infection with T. gondii was 10.99% (confidence interval (CI) 95% 8.14%-14.67%). A higher rate of infection was recorded in carnivores and omnivores (red fox 20.21%, CI 95% 13.34%-29.43%; wild boar 16.19%, CI 95% 10.36%-24.41%) compared to ruminants (2.48%, CI 95% 0.85%-7.04% in roe deer; 0.00%, CI 95% 0.00%-22.81% in red deer, and 0.00% alpine chamois (CI 95% 0.00%-14.87%) confirming the importance of tissue cysts in transmitting infection.

Conclusions

The relatively high prevalence of T. gondii DNA in highly consumed game species (wild boar and roe deer) gives valuable insights into T. gondii epidemiology and may contribute to improve prevention and control of foodborne toxoplasmosis in humans.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Ferroglio et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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