Abstract
BackgroundLittle is known concerning the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dogs in Mexico. Here, we investigated antibodies to T. gondii and associated risk factors in 101 dogs from an animal shelter in Veracruz State, Mexico. Canine sera were assayed for T. gondii IgG antibodies by using the modified agglutination test (MAT, cut off 1:25).ResultsSixty eight (67.3%) of 101 dogs were seropositive with titers of 1:25 in 16, 1:50 in 8, 1:100 in 9, 1:200 in 10, 1:400 in 10, 1:800 in 10, 1:1600 in 3, and 1:3200 or higher in 2. None of the dogs’ characteristics studied including age, sex, breed, and history of deworming, rabies vaccination and contact with cats was associated with seroprevalence of T. gondii infection.ConclusionUsing the dogs as sentinel animals, the results indicate high contamination with T. gondii of the environment in Veracruz, Mexico. Results have public health implications, and further studies in Veracruz should be conducted to establish the sources of environmental contamination with T. gondii and to determine optimal preventive measures against T. gondii infection in humans.
Highlights
Little is known concerning the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dogs in Mexico
IgG antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 68 (67.3%) of 101 dogs with titers of 1:25 in 16, 1:50 in 8, 1:100 in 9, 1:200 in 10, 1:400 in 10, 1:800 in 10, 1:1600 in 3, and 1:3200 or higher in 2
In the present study, a high (67.3%) seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was found in dogs from an animal shelter in Veracruz, Mexico
Summary
Little is known concerning the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dogs in Mexico. We investigated antibodies to T. gondii and associated risk factors in 101 dogs from an animal shelter in Veracruz State, Mexico. Toxoplasma gondii causes infections in most animals worldwide, including dogs [1]. The prevalence of T. gondii infection in dogs may reflect the magnitude of parasite contamination in their environment. Dogs can act as mechanical vectors for T. gondii oocysts because of their habit of eating cat feces and rolling over in cat excreta [5] If they ingest feces of infected cats, some of the oocysts can pass unchanged through the dog intestine and Worldwide reports of T. gondii prevalence in dogs have been summarized [1,3]. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in dogs from an animal shelter in Veracruz, an eastern state of Mexico. There are only 3 previous reports of T. gondii prevalence in dogs from Mexico, and they are from different region than studied here [8,9,10]
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