Toxoplasma gondii in sheep from the Campania region (Italy).
A cross-sectional serological survey was conducted in order to evaluate, irrespective of abortion, the Toxoplasma gondii infection in pastured sheep from the Campania region of southern Italy. A geographical information system was used in order to uniformly sample the ovine farms (n=117) throughout the entire region. Blood and milk samples were collected from 10 adult sheep (>18 months) on each farm (total number=1170 sheep). Serum samples were tested for the presence of IgG antibodies to T. gondii using a commercial indirect fluorescent antibody test. For each farm, the 10 milk samples collected were pooled in order to obtain a single milk sample per farm (total number=117 milk samples). The 77.8% (91/117) of the farms and the 28.5% (333/11,170) of the sheep resulted positive by serology. In addition, the presence of T. gondii DNA was detected by PCR in 4 milk samples out of the 117 examined (3.4%).
Fusco
Giovanna
G
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Sezione di Caserta, via Jervolino 19, 81029 Tuoro, Caserta, Italy. giovannafusco@izsmportici.it
Rinaldi
Laura
L
Guarino
Achille
A
Proroga
Yolande Therese Rose
YT
Pesce
Antonella
A
Giuseppina
De Marco
de M
Cringoli
Giuseppe
G
D000818:Animals; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology