Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in feral cats in Qatar

BMC Veterinary Research

Research Article

Marawan Abu-Madi¹  Sonia Boughattas¹  Aarti Sharma¹  Jerzy Behnke² 

[1] Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Biomedical Research Center, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar;School of Biology, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD, Nottingham, UK;

关键词: Serosurvey;    Antibodies;    Toxoplasmosis;    Felids;    Middle East;    Season;    Sex;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12917-017-0952-4

 received in 2016-07-15, accepted in 2017-01-13,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCats are essential in the life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii as they can shed the environmentally resistant oocysts after acquiring infection. Human populations living in cities with high densities of feral cats are therefore likely to be at risk of infection. The current study is the first to estimate the seroprevalence of T. gondii in the feral cat population in Qatar. We investigated the seroprevalence of T. gondii among 495 adult cats from urban and suburban districts in Qatar. Using results from the Modified Agglutination Test, we fitted statistical models with host sex, area and season as explanatory factors and seropositivity as the outcome.ResultsThe analysis revealed an overall seroprevalence of 82%. Seroprevalence was significantly higher in the summer season (P = 0.006). No significant difference was detected (P > 0.05) between seroprevalence in female and male cats and in cats from urban and suburban districts of Qatar.ConclusionsDespite the seasonal difference, the observed seroprevalence of T. gondii suggests high environmental contamination throughout the year, with some female cats generating more intense responses compared to males. Both findings merit further investigations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017