TISSUE DISTRIBUTION AND MOLECULAR CHRACTERIZATION OF CHICKEN ISOLATES OF TOXOPLASMA GONDII FROM PERU.

Authors: Dubey, Jitender; LEVY, MZ - CDC EMORY U ATLANTA GA; SREEKUMAR, C - USDA, ARS, ANRI; Kwok, Oliver; Shen, Samuel; DAHL, E - CDC CHAMBLEE GEORGIA; THULLIEZ, P - LAB TOXOPLAS. PARIS FRANC; LEHMANN, T - CDC CHAMBLEE GEORGIA

Submitted to: American Society of Parasitologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2004
Publication Date: 6/2/2004
Citation: Dubey, J.P., Levy, M., Sreekumar, C., Kwok, O.C., Shen, S.K., Dahl, E., Thulliez, P., Lehmann, T. 2004. Tissue distribution and molecular chracterization of chicken isolates of toxoplasma gondii from Peru. American Society of Parasitologists 90: 1015-1018.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in free-ranging chickens is a good indicator of the prevalence of T. gondii oocysts in the soil because chickens feed from the ground. The prevalence of T. gondii antibodies in sera of 50 free-range chickens (Gallus domesticus) from Peru was 26% based on the modified agglutination test (MAT). Hearts, pectoral muscles and brains of seropositive (MAT '1:5) chickens were bioassayed individually in mice. Tissues from the remainaing 37 seronegative chickens were pooled and fed to 2 T. gondii-free cats. Feces of cats were exaamined for oocysts; they did not shed oocysts. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated from the hearts of 10 seropositive chickens but not from their brains and pectoral muscles. Genotyping of these isolates using the SAG2 locus indicated that 7 isolates were Type I and 3 were Type III. Six of the 7 Type I isolates were avirulent for mice, which was unusual, as Type I isolates are considered virulent for mice. The T. gondii isolates were from chickens from different properties that were at least 200 m apart. Thus, each isolate is likely to be different. This is the first report of isolation of T. gondii from chickens from Peru.