Sparrows (Passer domesticus L.) as intermediary hosts of Toxoplasma gondii in poultry farms from the "agreste" region of Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

This paper aimed to identify Toxoplasma gondii infection in house sparrows (Passer domesticus, Linneaus 1758) coming from poultry farms in the "agreste" region of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. 151 sparrows (Passer domesticus) captured in eight broiler, egg layer and commercial laying poultry farms, were used. Indirect hemagglutination test was used to research anti-T. gondii antibodies. Animals that presented titration of 1:16 were destined to DNA research through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique, followed by Nested-PCR. It was observed that, from 151 analyzed samples. 91 (60.3%) were reagents and 60 (39.7%) were not reagents. It was verified, through analysis of the distribution of infected animals frequency per farm, that in only one farm (12.5%) no animal reagent to T. gondii was captured. It was also observed that three (30.00%) of the ten samples destined to DNA research for T. gondii were positive to PCR and four (40.00%) were positive to Nested-PCR. Anti-T gondii antibodies occurrence and the molecular identification of the agent confirmed natural T. gondii infection in sparrows from poultry farms in Brazil. Other studies must be carried out to highlight the real importance of these animals in the epidemiological chain and their efficiency in the transmission of the parasite to felines. Therefore, researches that use parasite isolation and molecular techniques to determine genomic profile of the agent present in these poultry farms are needed.

Molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii in house sparrow (Passer domesticus) by LAMP and PCR methods in Tehran, Iran

“…Molecular frequency of T. gondii in sparrows was also reported in Brazil (Gondim et al 2010;Vilela et al 2011) and China (Cong et al 2013;Huang et al 2012). In this regard, Gondim et al (2010) detected anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in 1.02 % (3/293) and T. gondii DNA from 17.5 % (7/40) of sparrows in the northeast of Brazil (Gondim et al 2010).…”

“…In this regard, Gondim et al (2010) detected anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in 1.02 % (3/293) and T. gondii DNA from 17.5 % (7/40) of sparrows in the northeast of Brazil (Gondim et al 2010). Vilela et al (2011) reported 60.3 % (90/51) T. gondii seropositivity among sparrows in region of Pernambuco, Brazil. They also detected T. gondii DNA from four sparrows by Nested-PCR (Vilela et al 2011).…”

“…Vilela et al (2011) reported 60.3 % (90/51) T. gondii seropositivity among sparrows in region of Pernambuco, Brazil. They also detected T. gondii DNA from four sparrows by Nested-PCR (Vilela et al 2011). Cong et al (2013) detected anti-Toxoplasma antibodies among 12.46 % (39/313) of house sparrows in northwestern China.…”

“…The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is one of the common birds that easily adaptable to urban and rural areas. Recently, high molecular frequency of T. gondii infection in sparrow were reported from Iran (Khademvatan et al 2013), China (Cong et al 2013;Huang et al 2012) and Brazil (Gondim et al 2010;Vilela et al 2011).…”

Ocorrência de anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii em aves silvestres de três Unidades de Conservação Federais da Paraíba e da Bahia

“…No Brasil os estudos soroepidemiológicos da infecção por T. gondii em aves silvestres de vida livre também são escassos. As pesquisas foram realizadas na região Sudeste no Estado de São Paulo (Sogorb et al 1972, Sogorb et al 1977, Gonçalves et al 2013) e na região Nordeste no Estado da Bahia (Gondim et al 2010) e no Estado de Pernambuco, estudos foram realizados no continente (Vilela et al 2011) e no Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha (Costa et al 2012). Em pombos-domésticos (Columba livia) sinantrópi-cos fo-ram realizados levantamentos sorológicos no Estado de São Paulo (Godoi et al 2010, De Lima et al 2011.…”