title: Prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in swine from Northeastern Brazil.
abstract: A serologic survey was conducted among 130 swine slaughtered in the public slaughterhouse of the city of Patos, Paraíba State, Northeastern Brazil, to determine the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies, and to verify possible associations between sex of the animals and antibody prevalence. The sera were analyzed by indirect antibody tests, considering 1:64 (T. gondii) and 1:50 (N. caninum) dilutions as cut-off points. The prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies was 36.2% (47/130) (95% CI = 27.9 - 45.0%) with reciprocal titers ranging from 64 to 2,048, and of anti-N. caninum antibodies was 3.1% (4/130) (95% CI = 0.8 - 7.7%) with reciprocal titers ranging from 50 to 6,400. Three of the four N. caninum-positive samples were also positive for T. gondii antibodies. All Neospora and Toxoplasma IFAT-positive animals were also positive for confirmatory immunoblotting techniques using total and purified N. caninum and T. gondii tachyzoite antigens, i.e., p38 (NcSRS2) and p30 (TgSAG1). There was no association between sex of animals and prevalence of anti-T. gondii and anti-N. caninum antibodies. This is the first indication of N. caninum natural infection in pigs from Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo - SP, Brazil. sgennari@usp.br
authors.forename: Sérgio Santos de
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Hilda Fátima de Jesus
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Pena
authors.forename: Clebert José
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Antônio Alfredo de Melo
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Guimarães Filho
authors.forename: Robério Macedo
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Pavlo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maksimov
authors.forename: Gereon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schares
authors.forename: Solange Maria
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gennari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018688:Neospora / Q000276:immunology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013552:Swine / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan