title: Meat Juice Serology forToxoplasma GondiiInfection in Chickens.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondiiis an important foodborne zoonosis. Free-range chickens are at particularly high risk of infection and are also excellent indicators of soil contamination by oocysts. In the present study, hearts of 77 free-range chickens were collected at slaughter.T. gondiimeat juice enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed with a commercial kit, following validation with positive controls, from experimentally infected chickens, and negative ones. Out of 77 samples, only 66 gave sufficient meat juice for serology. Of these, 24 (36.4%) were positive forT. gondiiconsidering the 5*standard deviation values (calculated on the optical density of negative controls), while all the samples were negative considering sample/positive% values. Parasite-specific polymerase chain reaction was carried out on all samples obtained from heart tissue and none were positive for the presence ofT. gondiiDNA. Results would suggest that further study on the use of meat juice with a validated serological test to detectT. gondiiin chickens could lead to widespread epidemiological studies in this important intermediate host. However, sample collection and test specificity require further evaluation.
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Alice
authors: A
authors: Vismarra
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Carlo
authors: C
authors: Mangia
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Barilli
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: Brindani
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Cristina
authors: C
authors: Bacci
authors: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Parma , Parma, Italy.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Kramer
keywords: ELISA; Meat juice; Serology; Toxoplasma gondii