Seasonal and Age Distribution of Toxoplasma gondii in Milk of Naturally Infected Animal Species and Dairy Samples

Abstract

RIMARY infection by Toxoplasma gondii is habitually food borne and ingestion of foods with animal origins is measured as a risk factor. The current survey was performed to assess the seasonal and age distribution of T. gondii in diverse kinds of raw milk and traditional dairy products. Three-hundred and seventy raw milk and traditional dairy samples were collected and subjected to DNA extraction. B1 specific gene of T. gondii was perceived by means of the molecular technique. Eighteen out of 370 (4.86%) studied samples were positive for T. gondii. Molecular incidence of T. gondii in raw milk was 6.08%. T. gondii was also perceived in 2.85% of studied traditional dairy samples, respectively. Sheep milk (10%) and cheese (6.66%) had the uppermost molecular incidence of parasite. Molecular incidence of T. gondii in raw camel milk and cream and butter samples were 3.33%, 5% and 5%, respectively. Samples which were collected through autumn (15.55%) and summer (9.37%) seasons had the maximum molecular incidence of T. gondii. Raw milk samples of older than 4 years animal species (11.39%) had the maximum molecular incidence of T. gondii. The existingsurvey is the first report of seasonal and age distribution of T. gondii in diverse kinds of dairy samples. Raw sheep, goat, buffalo, bovine and camel milk and also traditional cheese, cream and butter dairy samples may harbor T. gondii infection. Seasonal and senile distribution should be measured for molecular incidence of T. gondii in milk of primary infected animals and also traditional dairy products.

Molecular surveillance of Toxoplasma gondii in raw milk and Artisan cheese of sheep, goat, cow and water buffalo origin

“…The findings in this study revealed that the T. gondii DNA-positive milk samples belonged to the summer sampling period, and the frequency of each positive milk sample was 20% for June, July and August. The summer and autumn seasons are considered an important predisposing factor for the incidence of T. gondii due to the grazing of animals in pasture and the high cat population shedding T. gondii oocysts (Dubey et al 2014;Alipour Amroabadi et al 2020). Several authors demonstrated the long-term survival of T. gondii cysts in the cheese samples obtained from the milk experimentally infected with this agent (Hiramoto et al 2001;Camossi et al 2011;Dubey et al 2014;Costa et al 2020;Ranucci et al 2020).…”

“…It was stated that the resistance of tachyzoites in cheese depends on changes in cheese pH, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) growth and salt concentration during the cheesemaking process and maturation period (Hiramoto et al 2001;Dubey et al 2014;Costa et al 2020;Ranucci et al 2020). There are limited data on the detection of T. gondii in cheeses (Alipour Amroabadi et al 2020;Costa et al 2020). The seroprevalence of T. gondii in T€ urkiye has been reported to range from 4% to 93.3% in cattle, from 4.6% to 99% in ewes and from 12% to 95% in goats (Karagenc et al 2005;Oncel and Vural 2006;Acici et al 2007;Mor and Arslan 2007;Yildiz et al 2009;Akca and Mor 2010;Cicek et al 2011;Leblebicier and Yildiz 2014;Yucel et al 2014;Celik et al 2016;Ozmutlu Cakmak and Karatepe 2017;Zhou et al 2017;Aktas and Aydin 2020), but no data are available on the presence of T. gondii tachyzoites or parasite DNA in milk and milk products from naturally infected animals.…”

“…There are limited data on the detection of T. gondii in cheeses (Alipour Amroabadi et al . 2020; Costa et al . 2020).…”

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii infection in buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and cattle (Bos taurus) at the Tabriz abattoir, Iran

“…This cross‐sectional study was conducted from April to September 2020. The sample size for the study was calculated using the following formula, assuming an expected prevalence of 25% and 15% of T. gondii in buffalo and cattle meat, respectively, based on previous studies (Alipour Amroabadi et al., 2020), with a desired absolute confidence level of 95% and a percent error of 5% (Motamed & Zamani, 2016). Based on these parameters, it was estimated that a total of at least 47 buffaloes and 97 cattle needed to be sampled: $$$$\begin{equation*}n = \frac{{Z_{1 - \alpha /2}^2 \times p\;(1 - p)}}{{{{d}^2}}}\end{equation*}$$$$where P is the prevalence, α is the error rate, and d is the accuracy.…”

“…gondii in buffalo and cattle meat, respectively, based on previous studies (Alipour Amroabadi et al, 2020), with a desired absolute confidence level of 95% and a percent error of 5% (Motamed & Zamani, 2016).…”