Toxoplasma gondii in sheep from the Campania region (Italy)

Vet Parasitol. 2007 Nov 10;149(3-4):271-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2007.07.020. Epub 2007 Aug 30.

Abstract

A cross-sectional serological survey was conducted in order to evaluate, irrespective of abortion, the Toxoplasma gondii infection in pastured sheep from the Campania region of southern Italy. A geographical information system was used in order to uniformly sample the ovine farms (n=117) throughout the entire region. Blood and milk samples were collected from 10 adult sheep (>18 months) on each farm (total number=1170 sheep). Serum samples were tested for the presence of IgG antibodies to T. gondii using a commercial indirect fluorescent antibody test. For each farm, the 10 milk samples collected were pooled in order to obtain a single milk sample per farm (total number=117 milk samples). The 77.8% (91/117) of the farms and the 28.5% (333/11,170) of the sheep resulted positive by serology. In addition, the presence of T. gondii DNA was detected by PCR in 4 milk samples out of the 117 examined (3.4%).

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Genes, Protozoan
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • Sheep
  • Sheep Diseases / blood
  • Sheep Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Sheep Diseases / parasitology*
  • Toxoplasma* / genetics
  • Toxoplasmosis, Animal / blood
  • Toxoplasmosis, Animal / epidemiology*
  • Toxoplasmosis, Animal / parasitology