Fatores de risco associados à infecção por Toxoplasma gondii em ovinos e caprinos no estado de Pernambuco

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the participation of Toxoplasma gondii in reproductive failure in small ruminants raised in the Litoral/ Zona da Mata and Agreste of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. Twelve ϐlocks were selected from which 262 samples were collected, 167 from goats and 95 from sheep. Indirect Imunoϐluorescent Antibody Reaction (IFA) technique was used to detect antibodies anti-Toxoplasma gondii. A questionnaire was applied in ϐlocks to identify risk factors associated with infection. Positive animals were found in 100% of the farms. Among 167 samples of goat serum analyzed, 31.7% were positive, whereas from 95 samples of sheep, 16.9% were positive. Results of brucellosis tests were negative for 100% of analyzed samples. For sheep, no signiϐicant association was found; however, for goats, there was a signiϐicant association (p<0.05) for intensive handling (OR=2.40), milk exploration (OR=2.10), animals originating from other states (OR=7.89) and natural breeding (OR=5.69). It was concluded that infection for T. gondii is spread in studied goat and sheep ϐlocks and that sanitary measures must be adopted to control risk factors for infection.INDEX TERMS: Indirect imunoϐluorescent antibody reaction, Toxoplasma gondii, risk factors.

Epidemiological analysis of Toxoplasma gondii infection in sheep in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil

“…Similar serological studies conducted in Brazil have also reported seroprevalence values in sheep ranging between 3.7-35.3% SILVA et al, 2003;PINHEIRO JÚNIOR et al, 2009;SOCCOL et al, 2009;PEREIRA et al, 2012;NUNES et al, 2015;SILVA et al, 2015).…”

“…Although production animals like sheep were found to be more susceptible to infection than other species (MILLAR et al, 2008), serological studies have confirmed the distribution of T. gondii infection in sheep with variable percentages (TENTER et al, 2000). The prevalence of seropositive animals found in this study (13.60%) was lower than the results found in other Brazilian states (LANGONI et al, 1999;PINHEIRO JÚNIOR et al, 2009). A previous study pertaining to other regions of Pernambuco showed similar results, with 16.90% of sheep seropositive for T. gondii infection (SILVA et al, 2003).…”

“…Serological studies on the prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies show that toxoplasmosis is globally widespread among sheep, with seroprevalence values ranging between 5-87.5% (RAMZAN et al, 2009;WU et al, 2011;HAMILTON et al, 2014;GAZZONIS et al, 2015;HUTCHINSON;SMITH, 2015). Similar serological studies conducted in Brazil have also reported seroprevalence values in sheep ranging between 3.7-35.3% SILVA et al, 2003;PINHEIRO JÚNIOR et al, 2009;SOCCOL et al, 2009;PEREIRA et al, 2012;NUNES et al, 2015;SILVA et al, 2015).…”

“…In order to determine the sample size for the prevalence study, T. gondii infection in sheep was assumed to be at an expected prevalence rate of 35.3% (PEREIRA et al, 2012). Allowing for a 95% confidence interval and a statistical error of 5% (THRUSFIELD, 2004), a minimum sampling size of 216 animals was calculated.…”

Prevalência de anticorpos contra Toxoplasma gondii em ovinos no município de Uberlândia, MG

“…No município de Guarapuava, Paraná, foi observada uma prevalência de 51,5% e na microrregião de Jaboticabal, São Paulo, 52% de ovinos reagentes a anticorpos contra T. gondii (Romanelli et al, 2007;Lopes et al, 2010). Já com resultados inferiores à presente pesquisa, em um estudo realizado no estado de Pernambuco, foram analisadas 95 amostras de ovinos provenientes das regiões do Litoral, Zona da Mata e Agreste e identificaram 16,2% de positividade (Pereira et al, 2012).…”