Seroprevalence of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> in Donkeys (<i>Equus asinus</i>) in Italy

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis, an important zoonosis, can be transmitted by eating meat or drinking milk of animals infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Samples were collected from 238 donkeys in the year 2010 in Italy, which included 207 females and 31 males of five breeds and crossbreeds with the average age 9 years (1 month−24 years). Sera were tested for T. gondii antibodies using a latex agglutination test and the indirect fluorescent antibody test; 5 and 8% seropositivity were recorded, respectively. We found significant correlation between the presence of T. gondii antibodies and sex, age, grazing and presence of cats on the farms and their access to donkey feed. This is the first detection of T. gondii antibodies in donkeys in Italy.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania spp. in domestic donkeys from Portugal

“…A similar situation was found in Italy by means of IFAT, i.e. seroprevalence was 8.7% in 207 females and 3.2% in 31 male donkeys (p = 0.559) (MACHACOVA et al, 2014).…”

“…The donkey is important and useful to humans in many ways. In some European countries, institutions and breeder associations have made strong efforts to preserve the existing autochthonous breeds, promoting their use as pets, in recreational activities (agritourism and trekking), for onotherapy (especially with children), meat products (gourmet and dietary products) and milk production (cosmetic industry and human nutrition) (MACHACOVA et al, 2014).…”

“…There are several serologic surveys for T. gondii infection in donkeys worldwide, with prevalence ranging from 5% in Italy (MACHACOVA et al, 2014) to 65.6% in Egypt (EL-GHAYSH, 1998). Some of the differences in seroprevalences can be probably related to the number of donkeys tested and the different serological tests used, but also to feeding conditions, animal husbandry practices and the prevalence of T. gondii in cats (DUBEY et al, 2014;ALVARADO-ESQUIVEL et al, 2015).…”

Sorologia para Toxoplasma gondii em equídeos abatidos sob Serviço de Inspeção Federal em abatedouro no estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil

“…Outros trabalhos encontraram valores de soro positividade divergentes da presente pesquisa: 5,9% (CAMOSSI et al, 2010), 7,8% (OLIVEIRA FILHO et al, 2012), 9,7% (OLIVEIRA et al, 2014). Estudos realizados na Europa e nos Estados Unidos, a ocorrência não ultrapassou os 8%, quando utilizados a RIFI e o MAT (DUBEY et al, 1999b;MACHACOVA et al, 2014;. Resultados superiores foram relatados no Brasil e países como China e Romênia, empregando-se as técnicas de RIFI, MAT e ELISA, variando de 19,9% a 43,2% (VIDOTTO et al, 1997;OLIVEIRA et al, 2013;YANG et al, 2013;PASTIU et al, 2015;RIBEIRO et al, 2016;GENNARI et al, 2015).…”

“…Embora ainda haja pouca informação sobre o papel dos asininos na epidemiologia da toxoplasmose, a ocorrência de anticorpos anti-T. gondii nesta espécie faz da carne desses animais uma possível fonte de infecção (MACHACOVA et al, 2014). Alguns trabalhos sugerem a possibilidade de transmissão por meio do consumo do leite asinino cru, uma vez que não foi comprovada a capacidade infectante das amostras onde foi detectado DNA do parasito (MANCIANTI et al, 2014;MARTINI et al, 2014).…”