title: Prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in army dogs in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
abstract: Army dogs, mostly German Sheep-dogs, were tested for antibodies to T. gondii using Sabin-Feldman dye test (DT) and complement fixation test (CFT). Titers greater than or equal to 4 and 10 were considered as positive in DT and CFT, respectively. Seroprevalences in the group of 720 dogs from the civil sector of different areas in the former Czechoslovakia were 39.3% and 15.4% in DT and CFT, respectively. During dogs' stay in army seroprevalences decreased only slowly. The decrease was probably due to less possibility to contact sources of infection--dogs were fed with cooked food, kept in pens with a high level of hygiene, and cats were very rare there. Nevertheless, some dogs in the army training centre were infected by T. gondii in that way of dog rearing.
authors.affiliation: VEDIA, Veterinary Laboratory, Strakonice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hejlícek
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Literák
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lhoták
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004285:Dogs; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan