Seroprevalence and Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in Animals in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area, China

Guojing Li; Wangli Zheng; Jinfang Yang; Tongsheng Qi; Yongcai He; Wangkai Chen; Hejia Ma; Yali Sun; Ying Li; Ming Kang; Jixu Li

doi:10.3390/pathogens10040432

Seroprevalence and Epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in Animals in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area, China

Pathogens. 2021 Apr 6;10(4):432. doi: 10.3390/pathogens10040432.

Authors

Guojing Li^{1

2}, Wangli Zheng^{1

2}, Jinfang Yang^{1

2}, Tongsheng Qi^{1

2}, Yongcai He^{1

2}, Wangkai Chen^{1

2}, Hejia Ma^{1

2}, Yali Sun^{1

2}, Ying Li^{1

2}, Ming Kang^{1

2}, Jixu Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China.
² College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China.

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii belongs to the Apicomplexan protozoa-an obligate intracellular parasite-causing toxoplasmosis that has a worldwide distribution and is very harmful to both human health and the livestock industry. However, the information on toxoplasmosis in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area (QTPA) and the seroprevalence of T. gondii in the food-borne animals in that area has been limited. Therefore, this study focused to T. gondii and toxoplasmosis to perform an indirect ELISA test based on recombinant TgSAG2 protein to establish a comprehensive record of the seroprevalence of T. gondii infections in a wide range of animals, including Tibetan sheep (Ovis aries), yaks (Bos grunniens), cows, chicken, pigs, and horses, in the QTPA. Overall, the seropositive rates of the specific-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies in all investigated animals were 44.1% (1179/2673) and 18.0% (469/2612), respectively. The 14.9% (389/2612) sera were determined to be both IgG and IgM positive samples, 30.2% (789/2673) were single-IgG seropositive, and a total of 80 in 2612 animals (3.0%) were single-IgM seropositive. Moreover, for the animal species, the pig was the most prevalent animal (90.2%, 304/337) for IgG positivity, followed by Tibetan sheep (50.7%, 460/907), chickens (45.8%, 229/500), yaks (21.1%, 140/663), cows (18.5%, 38/205) and horses (13.1%, 8/61), respectively. For the IgM antibody positivity, the pig was also the most prevalent animal (41.8%, 141/337), followed by Tibetan sheep (21.2%, 191/907), cows (15.1%, 31/205), chickens (12.4%, 62/500) and yaks (6.6%, 44/663), respectively. The significant differences in the prevalent distribution of T. gondii were found in the different altitudes. In conclusion, this study found the high seroprevalence for T. gondii infections among these animal species in the QTPA, and provides new data to facilitate further research for development of control measures against T. gondii infections in the surveyed locations.

Keywords: ELISA; IgG; IgM; Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Area; Toxoplasma gondii; animals; toxoplasmosis.

Abstract

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