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Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in slaughtered pigs in the Czech Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2011

E. BÁRTOVÁ  and
K. SEDLÁK
E. BÁRTOVÁ*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
K. SEDLÁK
Affiliation:
Department of Virology and Serology, State Veterinary Institute Prague, Sídlištní 136/24, 165 03 Prague 6, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic. Tel: +420 541562633. E-mail: bartovae@vfu.cz
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Summary

In the Czech Republic, sera from 551 clinically healthy adult slaughtered pigs (females, 6–8 months old) were collected during the first half of June in 2010. Sera were tested for Toxoplasma gondii-specific IgG antibodies by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; samples with more than 50% S/P were considered as positive. The same samples were also analysed for Neospora caninum antibodies using a commercial competitive-inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; samples with more than 30% inhibition were considered as positive. Antibodies against T. gondii were found in 198 pigs (36%) in all districts with prevalences ranging from 18% to 75%. Antibodies against N. caninum were found in 16 pigs (3%); positive animals were found in 4 districts with prevalences ranging from 1% to 20%. Indication of mixed infections (concurrent presence of both N. caninum and T. gondii antibodies) was found in 8 (1·5%) pigs. The results of our study indicate that pigs in the Czech Republic have a relatively high seroprevalence for T. gondii, while they have only a low seroprevalence for N. caninum. Therefore, natural infection with T. gondii seems to be very common in Czech pigs. It is the first evidence of N. caninum antibodies in pigs in the Czech Republic. These results complete data about N. caninum infection in pigs in Europe.

Keywords

toxoplasmosisneosporosisnatural infectionserological survey
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 138 , Issue 11 , September 2011 , pp. 1369 - 1371
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

INTRODUCTION

Toxoplasmosis is a common parasitic zoonosis that affects a wide range of warm-blooded animals and man. In pigs, clinical cases of the infection have been reported, but the real problem of toxoplasmosis in pigs lies in the fact that tissues of infected animals may contain T. gondii tissue cysts. Insufficiently cooked pork and poor personal hygiene principles during cooking may cause latent or even clinical infections in man.

Infections with this parasite are common in pigs worldwide. In central Europe, antibodies against T. gondii were found in pigs in Scotland (McColm et al. Reference McColm, Hutchison and Siim1981), Italy (Genchi et al. Reference Genchi, Polidori, Zaghini and Lanfranchi1991), Finland (Hirvela-Koski, Reference Hirvela-Koski1992), Austria (Quehenberger et al. Reference Quehenberger, Schuller and Awad-Masalmeh1990; Edelhofer, Reference Edelhofer1994), Slovakia (Pleva et al. Reference Pleva, Sokol, Cabadaj and Saladiová1997), The Netherlands (Kijlstra et al. Reference Kijlstra, Eissen, Cornelissen, Munniksma, Eijck and Kortbeek2004), Germany (Damriyasa et al. Reference Damriyasa, Bauer, Edelhofer, Failing, Lind, Petersen, Schares, Tenter, Volmer and Zahner2004; Damriyasa and Bauer, Reference Damriyasa and Bauer2005), Serbia (Klun et al. Reference Klun, Djurkovic-Djakovic, Katic-Radivojevic and Nikolic2006), Poland (Gasior et al. Reference Gasior, Kur, Hiszczynska-Sawicka, Drapala, Dominiak-Górski and Pejsak2010), Spain (García-Bocanegra et al. Reference García-Bocanegra, Dubey, Simon-Grifé, Cabezón, Casal, Allepuz, Napp and Almería2010) and the Czech Republic (Hejlíček and Literák, Reference Hejlíček and Literák1993; Vostalová et al. Reference Vostalová, Literák, Pavlásek and Sedlák2000).

Neospora caninum, another cyst-forming coccidian species, has a broad range of intermediate hosts. Neosporosis is a serious disease of cattle and dogs worldwide. Experimental infection of sows led to transplacental transmission of N. caninum (Jensen et al. Reference Jensen, Jensen, Lind, Henriksen, Uggla and Bille-Hansen1998), but there is little information about N. caninum in pigs. Antibodies against N. caninum were detected in pigs from West Africa (Kamga-Waladjo et al. Reference Kamga-Waladjo, Chatagnon, Bakou, Boly, Diop and Tainturier2009), Brazil (de Azevedo et al. Reference de Ayevedo, Pena, Alves, Guimaraes, Oliveira, Maksimov, Schares and Gennari2010) and Germany (Damriyasa et al. Reference Damriyasa, Bauer, Edelhofer, Failing, Lind, Petersen, Schares, Tenter, Volmer and Zahner2004); there are no other data from Europe.

This work was aimed to estimate N. caninum seroprevalence and to update T. gondii seroprevalence in pigs from the Czech Republic.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the Czech Republic, blood samples were collected from 551 clinically healthy adult pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) during the first half of June in 2010. The pigs came from 8 districts: Central Bohemian (n=350); Ústí nad Labem (71); Plzeň (65); South Bohemian (33); Karlovy Vary (11); Hradec Králové (8); Vysočina (8) and Liberec (n=5) (Fig. 1). Blood samples were collected in slaughterhouses. All pigs were females of slaughter age (6–8 months). Blood was centrifuged and serum was stored at –20°C.

Fig. 1. Map of the Czech Republic showing the sampled areas. Districts: CB, Central Bohemian (350); Ú, Ústí nad Labem (71); PL, Plzeň (65); SB, South Bohemian (33); KV, Karlovy Vary (11); HK, Hradec Králové (8); V, Vysočina (8); LI, Liberec (5).

Toxoplasma-specific IgG antibodies were measured by a commercial ELISA kit ID Screen Toxoplasmosis Indirect, Multi-species (ID Vet, France). The serum was considered as positive if more than 50% S/P was found. The same samples were also analysed for N. caninum antibodies using a commercial competitive-inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) (VMRD, Pullman, USA). The serum was positive if more than 30% inhibition was found.

RESULTS

The antibodies against T. gondii were detected in the 198 (36%) of 551 pigs with S/P % ranging from 50% to over 337%. Positive animals were found in all districts with prevalence ranging from 18% to 75% (Table 1). Antibodies against N. caninum were detected in 16 (3%) pigs with inhibition of 30·1–40, 40·1–50 and 60·1–70 in 9, 5 and 2 pigs, respectively. Positive animals were found in 4 districts with prevalence ranging from 1% to 20% (Table 1). Indication of mixed infections (concurrent presence of both N. caninum and T. gondii antibodies) was found in 8 (1·5%) pigs. This is the first evidence of N. caninum antibodies in pigs in the Czech Republic and the first evidence of T. gondii antibodies detected by ELISA in the Czech Republic.

Table 1. Anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibody prevalences by ELISA assay in pigs from 8 districts in the Czech Republic

DISCUSSION

In Europe, antibodies against T. gondii were found in 0·4–64% pigs depending on the number of pigs examined, the method and cut-off used. The highest prevalence, 64%, was found in pigs in Italy (Genchi et al. Reference Genchi, Polidori, Zaghini and Lanfranchi1991). In other countries, the prevalence in pigs was as follows: 29% in Serbia (Klun et al. Reference Klun, Djurkovic-Djakovic, Katic-Radivojevic and Nikolic2006), 19% in in Spain (García-Bocanegra et al. Reference García-Bocanegra, Dubey, Simon-Grifé, Cabezón, Casal, Allepuz, Napp and Almería2010) and Poland (Gasior et al. Reference Gasior, Kur, Hiszczynska-Sawicka, Drapala, Dominiak-Górski and Pejsak2010), 18·5%–9% in Germany (Damriyasa et al. Reference Damriyasa, Bauer, Edelhofer, Failing, Lind, Petersen, Schares, Tenter, Volmer and Zahner2004; Damriyasa and Bauer, Reference Damriyasa and Bauer2005), 9% in Scotland (McColm et al. Reference McColm, Hutchison and Siim1981), 4% in Slovakia (Pleva et al. Reference Pleva, Sokol, Cabadaj and Saladiová1997), 2·5% in Finland (Hirvela-Koski, Reference Hirvela-Koski1992) and 2% in the Netherlands (Kijlstra et al. Reference Kijlstra, Eissen, Cornelissen, Munniksma, Eijck and Kortbeek2004). In Austria, a trend towards lower seropositivity has been observed during the years 1982–1992 with prevalences of 13·7% and 0·9%, respectively (Quehenberger et al. Reference Quehenberger, Schuller and Awad-Masalmeh1990; Edelhofer, Reference Edelhofer1994). In the Czech Republic, a similar trend was observed in previous studies. The prevalence ranged from 41·9% to 10·7% during the years 1948–1970, as tested by the Sabin-Feldman test (SFR), complement fixation test (CFT) and microprecipitation on agar gel (MPA) (summarized by Kouba et al. Reference Kouba, Jíra and Hübner1974) and decreased to 5·9%, 0·3% and 0·1% in the years 1979–1990, as tested by SFR, CFT and MPA, respectively (Hejlíček and Literák, Reference Hejlíček and Literák1993) and to 0·5% and 0·4% as tested by CFT and SFR, respectively (Vostalová et al. Reference Vostalová, Literák, Pavlásek and Sedlák2000). In the present study, we found a higher prevalence compared to the last study. The difference could be explained by the origin of the pigs. Whilst in the last study the pigs came from one large farm, the pigs included in the present study came from different farms of different districts. We found prevalences ranging from 18% to 70% in different districts; the differences were observed also on farms. Based on previous studies, the higher prevalence is found among pigs from small back-yard operations, while the prevalence among pigs from traditional large farms and modern large-scale farms is usually lower. Another explanation for higher seropositivity could be that ELISA is more sensitive compared to other serological methods. Dubey et al. (Reference Dubey, Andrews, Thulliez, Lind and Kwok1997) infected pigs and compared different serological methods and found the modified agglutination test (MAT) and ELISA to be the most sensitive tests compared to the dye test (DT), latex agglutination test (LAT) and indirect haemagglutination test (IHA).

Antibodies against N. caninum and T. gondii were detected in 3% and 36% of pigs, respectively. Our results are in agreement with a similar study from Brazil. Antibodies against N. caninum and T. gondii were detected by an indirect fluorescence test in 3·1% and 36·2% of 130 pigs, respectively (de Azevedo et al. Reference de Ayevedo, Pena, Alves, Guimaraes, Oliveira, Maksimov, Schares and Gennari2010). In Germany, Damriyasa et al. (Reference Damriyasa, Bauer, Edelhofer, Failing, Lind, Petersen, Schares, Tenter, Volmer and Zahner2004) used ELISA to test 2041 pigs and found 3·3% and 18·5% pigs to have N. caninum and T. gondii antibodies, respectively. Our serological results bring new information about N. caninum prevalence in pigs in Europe and thus complete our knowledge about this parasite.

In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that the risk of natural infection with T. gondii seems to be relatively high for pigs in the Czech Republic. However, there are local differences in prevalences. These data also demonstrate that natural infections with N. caninum can occur in pigs from the Czech Republic, but only sporadically.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

This study was funded by the grant no. MSM6215712402 from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

References

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Figure 0

Fig. 1. Map of the Czech Republic showing the sampled areas. Districts: CB, Central Bohemian (350); Ú, Ústí nad Labem (71); PL, Plzeň (65); SB, South Bohemian (33); KV, Karlovy Vary (11); HK, Hradec Králové (8); V, Vysočina (8); LI, Liberec (5).

Figure 1

Table 1. Anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibody prevalences by ELISA assay in pigs from 8 districts in the Czech Republic