Occurrence of anti-Neospora caninum and anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies in goats and sheep in western Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

Neosporosis and toxoplasmosis are parasitic diseases which can cause reproductive problems in goats and sheep. The current study aimed to determine the occurrence of anti-Neospora caninum and anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies in goats and sheep from the districts of Amarante do Maranhão and Buritirana, Imperatriz microregion, western area of Maranhão State, northeastern Brazil, and to assess factors associated to infection by these etiologic agents. Blood samples from 110 animals (46 goats and 64 sheep) from five herds were collected, and indirect immunofluorescence assay was used for serological testing. Of 46 goat samples, 17.39% (n = 8) showed anti-N. caninum antibodies and 4.35% (n = 2) anti-T. gondii, while of 64 sheep samples 4.69% (n = 3) and 18.75% (n = 12) showed anti-N. caninum and anti-T. gondii antibodies, respectively. No significant difference regarding the presence of domestic cats and/or dogs on the property and veterinary care was seen for both etiologic agents studied. However, food supplementation and animal reproductive failure were significantly (p < 0.05) for N. caninum among sheep and goats, respectively. The current study showed that goats and sheep in western Maranhão are exposed to N. caninum and T. gondii. It is the first evidence of these agents in small ruminants in this region.

Spatial epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in goats in Serbia

“…In pregnant goats, a primary infection may lead to placental and foetal infection resulting in foetal death and resorption, abortion or stillbirth (Dubey et al, 1985a). There is a body of data on the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in goats throughout the world with values ranging from 0% in Pakistan (Zaki, 1995) and 4% in Maranhao, Brazil (Moraes et al, 2011) to as high as 77% in France (Chartier et al, 1997) and 30-100% in Poland (Czopowicz et al, 2011). Interestingly, T. gondii infection in goats seems to be more prevalent in Europe than in Asia, Africa and South America with seroprevalence rates above 60% being reported in some European countries, including the Czech Republic, Spain and, more recently, Austria (Hejliček and Literak, 1994;Rodriguez-Ponce et al, 1995;Edelhofer and Prossinger, 2010).…”

Occurrences of anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in sheep from four districts of Tocantins state, Brazilian Legal Amazon Region

“…This is the first report on serum frequency of T. gondii in sheep from the state of Tocantins. In this regard, there is only another report of toxoplasmosis among sheep in the BLA region, where a similar occurrence of 18.75% were reported in Maranhão state (Moraes et al 2011).…”

“…Serological studies in Brazil have presented a variety of results according to the region studied. Concerning about BLA region, the highest occurrence for N. caninum was reported by Aguiar et al (2004) in sheep from Rondônia state (29%), while frequency of 5% was found by Moraes et al (2011) in the state of Maranhão. Although comparison of frequencies of infection between regions are difficult, differences could be due to sampling methods employed herein.…”

“…Tachyzoites of the T. gondii RH strain obtained by intraperitoneal serial passages in Swiss mice and tachyzoites of N. caninum(Nc-1 strain) maintained by continuous passages in cultures of VERO cells were used as antigen. A cut-off dilution of 1:40 and 1:25 were used for T. gondii and N. caninum, respectively (Moraes et al 2011). In each IFAT reaction, previously established positive and negative sera samples were included as controls and a FITC-conjugated monoclonal anti-sheep IgG (Sigma-Aldrich ® -F5137) secondary antibody was used.…”

“…Despite toxoplasmosis and neosporosis in sheep has been reported worldwide, there is no information about T. gondii and N. caninum from Tocantins state. Recently Moraes et al (2011) reported a occurrence of 18.75% and 4.69% for T. gondii and N. caninum respectively in sheep from Maranhão state, a border-line state, suggesting the presence of the agents in the region of BLA.…”