title: Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in stray and household cats in regions of Seoul, Korea.
abstract: The principal objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in household and stray cats in Seoul, Republic of Korea. We collected blood samples from 72 stray and 80 household cats, and all samples were examined by ELISA and nested PCR. The overall positive rates of Toxoplasma gondii in stray cats were 38.9% (28/72), with 15.3% (11/72) in ELISA and 30.6% (22/72) in PCR. The positive rate in male stray cats was slightly higher than that of female stray cats. The highest positive rate of T. gondii infection was noted in Gangnam and Songpa populations in ELISA and in Gwangjin population in PCR. In household cats, however, we could not detect any specific antibodies or DNA for T. gondii. In conclusion, we recognized that the infection rate of toxoplasmosis in stray cats in Seoul was considerably high but household cats were free from infection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Malaria and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Health, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul 122-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae-Yeong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yun-Ah
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Shin-Hyeong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Hye-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Heung-Myong
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Won-Ja
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ho-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Nam
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D002415:Cats; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan