Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366580
Research Project: Detection and Control of Foodborne Parasites for Food Safety

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in domestic cattle, sheep, goats and pigs from São Tomé and Príncipe

Author
item PEREIRA, DANIELA - University Of Tras-Os-montes And Alto Douro
item Dubey, Jitender
item DA MATA, ALFREDO - Direction Of The Ministry Of Agriculture And Rural Development
item NETO, HELDA - Direction Of The Ministry Of Agriculture And Rural Development
item CARDOSO, LUIS - University Of Tras-Os-montes And Alto Douro
item LOPES, ANA PATRICIA - University Of Tras-Os-montes And Alto Douro

Submitted to: Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2019
Publication Date: 2/1/2020
Citation: Pereira, D.C., Dubey, J.P., Da Mata, A., Neto, H., Cardoso, L., Lopes, A. 2020. Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in domestic cattle, sheep, goats and pigs from São Tomé and Príncipe. Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Parasitology. 29(1):eo14819. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-29612019101.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-29612019101

Interpretive Summary: Among these zoonotic pathogens, the protozoan parasite T. gondii is perhaps the most ubiquitous, having been identified in the tissues of a variety of animal hosts, including both mammalian and avian species. Toxoplasma gondii is estimated to chronically infect one third of the world’s human population, causing ocular toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent individuals and often-fatal encephalitis in the immunocompromised, as well as birth defects and mortality following vertical transmission to developing fetuses. Humans become infected postnatally by eating undercooked meat infected with T. gondii tissue cysts or by ingesting oocysts from the environment. Cats (domestic and wild) are the main reservoir of infection because they are the only hosts that can excrete the environmentally resistant stage, the oocyst. São Tomé, an insular state located near the Equator line in the Gulf of Guinea and distancing 300 km from the West African coast is often a tourist attraction. In the present study, authors found a high prevalence of T. gondii in food animals on this island. Tourist should avoid eating undercooked meat and avoid direct contact with soil. The results will be of interest to biologists, parasitologists, and public health workers.

Technical Abstract: Despite the global importance of the zoonotic parasite Toxoplasma gondii, little is known regarding T. gondii infection in hosts from the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe (DRSTP). This is the first report of T. gondii infection in cattle, sheep, goats and pigs from the DRSTP. Antibodies were assessed by the modified agglutination test (MAT) with a cut-off titre of 100 for cattle, and 20 for sheep, goats and pigs. The present study revealed an overall seroprevalence of 55.8%: 27.1% of 48 cattle, 68.4% of 98 sheep, 70.1% of 97 goats and 43.7% of 103 pigs were seropositive. The south geographical area for cattle (OR = 22.5; 95% CI: 4.3-118.8), the central area for sheep (OR = 11.4, 95% CI: 2.5-52.6), and adult age (OR = 6.7, 95% CI: 2.3-19.6) and living in the central region (OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 1.1-18.0) for goats were found to be risk factors for positivity to T. gondii. These results support the scenario of a considerable presence of sporulated oocysts, as well as infected intermediate hosts in the local environment, and consumption of raw or undercooked meat should be considered as an important potencial source of infection for animals and humans in the DRSTP.