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Title: Prevalence of infection with Toxoplasma gondii in landrace and mixed breed pigs slaughtered in Baja California Sur state, Mexico

Author
item ALVARADO-ESQUIVEL, COSME - Juarez University Of The State Of Durango
item VAZQUEZ-MORALES, RENATA - Comité Estatal De Fomento Y Protección Pecuaria
item COLADO-ROMERO, EDGER - Comité Estatal De Fomento Y Protección Pecuaria
item GUZMAN-SANCHEZ, RAMIRO - Comité Estatal De Fomento Y Protección Pecuaria
item LIESENFELD, OLIVER - Roche Diagnostics
item Dubey, Jitender

Submitted to: European Journal of Immunology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/23/2015
Publication Date: 3/30/2015
Publication URL: http://DOI: 10.1556/EuJMI-D-15-00004
Citation: Alvarado-Esquivel, C., Vazquez-Morales, R., Colado-Romero, E., Guzman-Sanchez, R., Liesenfeld, O., Dubey, J.P. 2015. Prevalence of infection with Toxoplasma gondii in landrace and mixed breed pigs slaughtered in Baja California Sur state, Mexico. European Journal of Immunology. 5(2015):112-115.

Interpretive Summary: Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite of all warm-blooded hosts worldwide. It causes mental retardation and loss of vision in children, and abortion in livestock. Cats are the main reservoir of T. gondii because they are the only hosts that can excrete the resistant stage (oocyst) of the parasite in the feces. Humans become infected by eating under cooked meat from infected animals and food and water contaminated with oocysts. Among the food animals, pigs are considered the most important source of Toxoplasma infection in humans. Little is known of the sources of infection for pigs raised under dry desert conditions. In the present study authors found that 13% of 308 pigs from La Paz, Baja California Sur State, Mexico had antibodies to Toxoplasma. In this part of the world, Mexico and USA share the same climatic conditions. The results indicate that pigs are becoming infected even under conditions where survival of oocysts may be minimal. The results will be of interest to biologists, and parasitologists.

Technical Abstract: Purpose We performed a cross-sectional study to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in 308 domestic pigs slaughtered in La Paz, Baja California Sur State, Mexico using the modified agglutination test (MAT, cut off 1:25). Results Forty (13%) of the 308 pigs were seropositive with MAT titers of 1:25 in 16, 1:50 in 5, 1:100 in 4, 1:200 in 5, 1:400 in 3, 1:800 in 3, 1:1600 in 2, and 1:3200 in 2. Multivariate analysis of pigs’ characteristics showed that seropositivity to T. gondii was negatively associated with mixed breed (OR =0.02; 95% CI: 0.003-0.26; P=0.001). Other variables including sex, type of raising and municipality did not show an association with T. gondii seropositivity by multivariate analysis. The frequency of high antibody titers (=1:400) was significantly (P<0.001) higher in Landrace pigs than mixed breed pigs. Conclusions The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in pigs for slaughter in Baja California Sur State is low compared with seroprevalences reported in pigs in other Mexican states. Landrace pigs demonstrated higher seroprevalence rates and antibody levels than mixed breed pigs. This is the first report of T. gondii infection in pigs raised in a desert climate.