<i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> antibody prevalence and isolation in free-ranging cats in Okinawa, Japan

Abstract

Cats are an important host of Toxoplasma gondii from an epidemiological perspective because they are the only definitive hosts that excrete oocysts in their feces. In this study, 201 free-ranging cats in Okinawa were examined for T. gondii infection. Using the latex agglutination test, we detected antibodies against T. gondii in 26.9% (54/201) of the cats. Oocysts of T. gondii were not detected upon microscopic examination of the feces of 128 cats. T. gondii was isolated from the tissues of 9 out of 24 seropositive or pseudo-seropositive cats with a bioassay using laboratory mice. Genotyping for the GRA6 gene revealed that five and four of the isolates were type I and II, respectively.

Molecular detection and dense granule antigen 6 genotyping of feline Toxoplasma gondii in Phayao, Thailand

“…The present study revealed the circulation of the type-I GRA6 allele in fecal samples of domestic cats in Phayao, Thailand. This result was consistent with the detection of type-I T. gondii GRA6 in domestic cats in South Thailand [46] and Okinawa, Japan [47]. Other studies have considered type-II T. gondii as the predominant genotype for feline definitive hosts in China [44] and stray cats in Iran [48].…”

Prevalence and Fundamental Research of Prevention and Treatment of Toxoplasmosis

“…The infection rates in some parts of Africa and Europe are higher than the world average infection level, such as a 97.4% positive serological test for T. gondii in wild cats in Egypt (Dubey 2010), 62.3% in Albanian cats (Spada et al 2012), 70.9% in Algeria cats (Ouchetati et al 2021), 40.3%-76% in Turkish cats (Dubey 2010;Can et al 2014), 48.4% in Finnish cats (Jokelainen et al 2012), 42.4% in Switzerland (Schreiber et al 2021, 51.6% in Latvia (Deksne et al 2013), 58.95% in France (Afonso et al 2013), 60.8% in Estonia (Must et al 2015), 32.3% in Cyprus (Attipa et al 2021) and 24.2 to 60% in Spain (Montoya et al 2018;Candela et al 2022). The prevalence rates of T. gondii infection in cats in most of Asia are generally lower than the world average, such as 19.6% in Kuwait (Abdou et al 2013), 30.4% in Iraq (Switzer et al 2013), 24.5% in China (Ding et al 2017;Li et al 2022), 2.2 to 47.2% in Korea (Hong et al 2013;Jung et al 2017), 4.8 to 11% in Bangkok (Jittapalapong et al 2010Sukhumavasi et al 2012), 40% in Iran (Sharif et al 2009), 14.5% in Malaysia (Wana et al 2020), 9 to 26.7% in Japan (Matsuu et al 2017;Kyan et al 2021) and18.7% in Thailand (Huertas-López et al 2021). For countries in Americas, the prevalence rates were 8 to 84.4% in Brazil (Cavalcante et al 2006;Bastos et al 2014;Magalhães et al 2017;Lima et al 2018), and 6 to 66.7% in the United States (Lilly et al 2013;Ballash et al 2015;Scorza and Lappin 2017).…”

Far-East Asian Toxoplasma isolates share ancestry with North and South/Central American recombinant lineages

“…In addition, 24 strains were successively isolated in Okinawa, a southern part of Japan, (Supplementary Fig. S1 ), between 2008–2013 18 , 19 . An atypical strain TgCatJpGi1/TaJ which was isolated in central Honshu, the main island of Japan (Supplementary Fig.…”