title: Prevalence of specific IgG-antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii in domestic turkeys determined by kinetic ELISA based on recombinant GRA7 and GRA8.
abstract: The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma (T.) gondii is one of the most common zoonotic infectious agents worldwide. Besides its sexual reproduction in cats, T. gondii can also infect a wide spectrum of other warm-blooded animals. These include animals used for human consumption such as pigs or chickens. Nevertheless, the role of turkeys for the epidemiology of T. gondii infections has not been studied thoroughly. We have established a kinetic ELISA (KELA) for the detection of T. gondii-specific IgG antibodies in turkey serum samples. The test is based on the recombinant dense granule antigens GRA7 and GRA8. These proteins were used as an antigen mixture at a concentration of 0.13 μg per well. The overall sensitivity of the assay was between 92.6% and 100% and the specificity ranged from 78.1% to 100%, depending on the method used to calculate these parameters. Using this KELA we examined 1913 turkey serum samples from 14 turkey farms from different areas of Germany. From these sera, 387 produced a signal in the KELA, corresponding to a true seroprevalence of up to 20.2%. The seropositivity rate in individual fattening cycles at individual farms ranged from 0.0% to 77.1%, whereas the rates were highly variable within the individual farms and individual fattening cycles. Consequently, conditions of animal husbandry could not be associated with particular seroprevalence rates. Although seropositivity cannot be linked directly to infectious tissue cysts in the muscle tissue of commercially produced turkey meat, we state that there is a potential risk of being infected by consuming turkey meat products that were not heat treated.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food Hygiene, University of Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koethe
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pott
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ludewig
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bangoura
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zöller
authors.forename: Arwid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daugschies
authors.forename: Astrid M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tenter
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spekker
authors.forename: Amina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bittame
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fehlhaber
authors.forename: Reinhard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Straubinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D014422:Turkeys
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; C112573:GRA7 protein, Toxoplasma gondii; C403417:GRA8 protein, Toxoplasma gondii; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins