title: Majority of T. gondii seropositive chickens (Gallus domesticus) in Central Ethiopia carries the infective parasite.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in free range chickens is a good indicator of the prevalence of T. gondii oocysts in the environment. The aim of this study was to isolate T. gondii parasites from heart and brain of seropositive free range (FR) chickens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Isolation of T. gondii from pooled heart and brain of 41 direct agglutination test (DAT) positive (≥1:40) free range chickens (Gallus domesticus) was carried out by bioassay in mice. T. gondii specific antibodies in mice were assayed by DAT and microscopy was employed for detection and enumeration of brain tissue cysts. Overall, bioassay was positive in 29 (70.7%) chicken samples. T. gondii tissue cysts were isolated from 59% (24/41) of bioassayed chickens: from 2 of 7 chickens with a titer of 1: ≤ 60, 2 of 5 with titer 1: 180, 6 of 8 with titer 1: 540, 10 of 15 with titer 1: 1620, 1 of 2 with titer 1: 6000, 2 of 3 with titer 1:18000, 1 of 1 with titer 1:54000. None of the isolates was pathogenic for mice. Tissue cysts were detected from 61% of seropositive mice (DAT ≥ 1:40). Generally, tissue cyst counts per brain of mouse were low (mean: 132.7 ± 84.4; range: 47-352).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Majority of T. gondii seropositive chickens (Gallus domesticus) in Central. Ethiopia carries the infective parasite. Tissues from the free range chicken might be a source infection for animals and humans.
authors.forename: Endrias Zewdu
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Gebremedhin
authors.forename: Gebregergs
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tesfamaryam
authors.forename: Reta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duguma
authors.forename: Getachew
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tilahun
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Marco
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vitale
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D001921:Brain / Q000469:parasitology; D002645:Chickens; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006321:Heart / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D015995:Prevalence; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000502:physiology; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan