Toxoplasma gondii infection in sheep from Romania.
Anamaria Ioana Paștiu, Viorica Mircean, Aurélien Mercier, Karine Passebosc-Faure, Nicolas Plault, Marie-Laure Dardé, Radu Blaga, Isabelle Villena, Dana Liana Pusta, Anamaria Cozma-Petruț, Adriana Györke
Author Information
Anamaria Ioana Paștiu: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. oana.pastiu@usamvcluj.ro.
Viorica Mircean: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Aurélien Mercier: Inserm U1094, IRD U270, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, EpiMaCT - Epidémiologie des maladies chroniques en zone tropicale, Institut d'Epidémiologie et de Neurologie Tropicale, OmegaHealth, Limoges, France.
Karine Passebosc-Faure: Centre National de Référence Toxoplasmose, CHU Limoges, 2 Martin Luther King Street, 87042, Limoges, France.
Nicolas Plault: Inserm U1094, IRD U270, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, EpiMaCT - Epidémiologie des maladies chroniques en zone tropicale, Institut d'Epidémiologie et de Neurologie Tropicale, OmegaHealth, Limoges, France.
Marie-Laure Dardé: Inserm U1094, IRD U270, Univ. Limoges, CHU Limoges, EpiMaCT - Epidémiologie des maladies chroniques en zone tropicale, Institut d'Epidémiologie et de Neurologie Tropicale, OmegaHealth, Limoges, France.
Radu Blaga: Anses, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, BIPAR, 94700, Maisons-Alfort, France.
Isabelle Villena: EA 7510 ESCAPE, SFR CAP-SANTE, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France.
Dana Liana Pusta: Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Anamaria Cozma-Petruț: Department of Bromatology, Hygiene, Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, "Iuliu Haţieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6 Pasteur Street, 400349, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Adriana Györke: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
BACKGROUND: Toxoplasmosis is a widespread zoonosis caused by the intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Limited epidemiological information is available about the prevalence of T. gondii in sheep in Romania, and a high incidence would have implications for both the economy and public health. To our knowledge, no studies are available about the T. gondii strains circulating in lambs. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of T. gondii in sheep (serology), lambs (serology, bioassay, PCR) and sheep abortions (PCR) in Romania. Moreover, the study aimed to perform the genetic characterization of T. gondii isolates from lambs. METHODS: Serum samples collected from 2650 sheep (2067 adults and 583 lambs) were tested for anti-T. gondii antibodies (IgG) using a commercial ELISA kit. Likewise, 328 pairs of diaphragmatic muscle-serum samples were collected from lambs aged between 2 and 4 months. Lamb serum samples were analyzed using MAT for anti-T. gondii antibody detection. The diaphragm tissue samples from MAT-positive lambs (at a dilution ≥ 1:25) were bioassayed in mice. The T. gondii strains were genotyped using 15 microsatellites markers. Additionally, brain and heart samples from 76 sheep abortions were analyzed for T. gondii DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the 529-bp repeat region (REP529). RESULTS: The results showed that more than half of the tested sheep were T. gondii seropositive (53.5%). The seroprevalence was significantly higher in adults (61.1%) than in lambs (26.4%). The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in slaughtered lambs, by MAT, was 37.5% (123/328). There were bioassayed in mice 56 diaphragmatic tissues from 123 seropositive lambs. Toxoplasma gondii strains were isolated from 18 (32.1%) lambs intended for human consumption. All T. gondii strains were confirmed by PCR. Six strains were genotyped using 15 microsatellite markers and belonged to genotype II. Toxoplasma gondii DNA was detected in 11.8% (9/76) of sheep abortions. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed the presence of T. gondii in sheep in all the regions considered in the study. The high prevalence of T. gondii infection in sheep and lambs, demonstrated by serology, molecular analysis and bioassay, highlighted that there is an important risk of human infection in consuming raw or undercooked sheep/lamb meat.
