Toxoplasma gondii Em galinhas domésticas: epidemiologia, isolamento e caracterização molecular

Abstract

Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are two obligate intracellular protozoa and can infect a wide variety of hosts, including birds. Domestic chickens can be considered as sentinels of infection, since they have potential exposure to oocysts in the soil, serving as indicators of environmental contamination, also acting as an efficient source of T. gondii infection. In addition, chickens infected with T. gondii oocysts may contain virulent strains of this parasite in different tissues, without any clinical signs. Therefore, the objectives of this study were (1) to determine the presence of anti-T. gondii and anti-N. caninum in domestic chickens raised extensively in rural areas, (2) evaluate the association of risk factors for infection by T. gondii present in properties in one of the study regions (3) isolating of the parasite T. gondii from tissues of chickens antibody positive (4) genotypically characterize the T. gondii from rural area of the municipality of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Firstly, in May 2011 were collected 137 blood samples in some farms in the state and were tested by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) for antibodies anti-T. gondii and anti-N. caninum and were detected in 74.4% (102/137) and 36.5% (50/137) of chickens, respectively. Later in the period from March 2013 to February 2014 were collected 597 blood samples from 74 properties in the rural area of Santa Maria, RS. The samples were tested by IFA, where 49.2% (294/597) were positive for antibodies anti-T. gondii infection, with titers ranging from 16 to 4096. From bioassay of 12 positive tissues chickens were obtained nine isolates of the parasite. Genotypic characterization of isolates was performed by PCR-RFLP, using 12 genetic markers, SAG1, 5'-3'SAG2, alt. SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, apical. The result of analysis of the genotype of individual of this study revealed the presence of five genotypes according to ToxoDB (# 11, # 55, # 64, # 140 and # 163) plus two new ones, not previously described in literature. The high prevalence of antibodies found in this study suggests a major environmental contamination, and thus a potential risk to human and animal health .From the results in genotypic characterization, it can be observed that there is a wide genetic diversity of T. gondii in the study region, which confirms previous studies in Brazil.