Journal
PARASITES & VECTORS
Volume 5, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-5-5
Keywords
Prevalence; Toxoplasma gondii; Stray dog; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); Environment; Indicator
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Funding
- Science Foundation of Xuzhou Medical College [2011KJ09]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [81171590, 31172316, 31101812]
- Undergraduate Innovation Program in Science and Technology of Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province [800]
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences [SKLVEB2011KFKT010, SKLVEB2010KFKT009, SKLVEB2009KFKT014, SKLVEB2010KFKT010, SKLVEB2011KFKT004]
- Yunnan Provincial Program for Introducing High-level Scientists [2009CI125]
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Background: Toxoplasmosis is an important parasitic zoonosis caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii that is distributed world-wide and infects a variety of hosts. However, the prevalence of T. gondii in the environment (such as soil, water and food) is largely unknown. Due to the technical difficulty in oocyst counting directly, an alternative assay using the serologic status of T. gondii in free-living animals, such as stray or free-living dogs, as an indicator, can be used to evaluate environmental contamination indirectly, as they are exposed to the same risk of infection as humans and other animals. Results: In the present study, 231 stray or free-living dogs across an urban-rural gradient were examined to assess the frequency of T. gondii in the environment. Specific antibodies to T. gondii were found in 93 dogs (40.3%) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and no statistically significant differences were observed in seroprevalences of T. gondii between urban dogs (38.7%) and rural dogs (41%) (p > 0.05). Conclusions: A high seroprevalence of T. gondii in stray or free-living dogs in the present study indicates that there would be a wide distribution and a constant infection pressure of T. gondii across an urban-rural gradient, and the oocysts of T. gondii in the environment would be an important source of infection for humans and other animals both in urban and rural areas in China.
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