title: Detection of Toxoplasma gondii DNA in horse meat from supermarkets in France and performance evaluation of two serological tests.
abstract: In France, some cases of severe toxoplasmosis have been linked to the consumption of horse meat that had been imported from the American continent where atypical strains of Toxoplasma gondii are more common than in Europe. Many seroprevalence studies are presented in the literature but risk assessment of T. gondii infection after horse meat consumption is not possible in the absence of validated serological tests and the unknown correlation between detection of antibodies against T. gondii and presence of tissue cysts. We performed magnetic-capture polymerase chain reaction (MC-PCR) to detect T. gondii DNA in 231 horse meat samples purchased in supermarkets in France and evaluated the performance and level of agreement of the modified agglutination test (MAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the meat juices. The serological tests lacked sensitivity, specificity, and agreement between them, and there was no correlation with the presence of T. gondii DNA in horse meat, raising concerns about the reliability of T. gondii seroprevalence data in horses from the literature. T. gondii DNA was detected in 43% of horse meat samples but the absence of strain isolation in mice following inoculation of more than 100 horse meat samples suggests a low distribution of cysts in skeletal muscles and a low risk of T. gondii infection associated with horse meat consumption. However, to avoid any risk of toxoplasmosis, thorough cooking of horse meat is recommended.
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, 87000 Limoges, France.
authors: Abdelkrim
authors: A
authors: Aroussi
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, 87000 Limoges, France.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Vignoles
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Institut d'Epidémiologie Neurologique et de Neurologie Tropicale, 87000 Limoges, France.
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Dalmay
authors: Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Équitation, Station Expérimentale, Domaine de la Valade, 19370 Chamberet, France.
authors: Laurence
authors: L
authors: Wimel
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, 87000 Limoges, France - Toxoplasma Biological Resource Center, CHU Limoges, 87042 Limoges, France.
authors: Marie-Laure
authors: ML
authors: Dardé
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, 87000 Limoges, France.
authors: Aurélien
authors: A
authors: Mercier
authors: INSERM, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, UMR-S 1094, Laboratoire de Parasitologie, 87000 Limoges, France - Toxoplasma Biological Resource Center, CHU Limoges, 87042 Limoges, France.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Ajzenberg
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000469:parasitology; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006736:Horses / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D018189:Immunomagnetic Separation; D008460:Meat / Q000469:parasitology*; D051379:Mice; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000469:parasitology; D012372:ROC Curve; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012306:Risk; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan