Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that infects warm-blooded animals as well as humans worldwide. The purpose of this study was to delineate the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in aborted fetuses of sheep in North Khorasan province, Iran. Three hundred and ninety-nine samples of the liver (133 samples), placenta (133 samples), and brain (133 samples) from 133 aborted fetuses of sheep were collected from 2015 to 2017. The ages of aborted fetuses were higher than 120 days' gestational age in this study. According to the samples, sixteen out of 133 aborted fetuses of sheep were infected with T. gondii. Toxoplasma DNA was found in the placenta (68.75%) and liver (31.25%) samples of infected fetuses using the PCR method. The highest and lowest rates of Toxoplasma infection were observed during 2016 and 2017, respectively. Shirvan and Faruj provinces were recognized as the two most infected districts among others. There was a significant difference between the year and abortion rate in sheep due to infection by the Toxoplasma parasite (P < 0.05). Furthermore, no significant difference between the prevalence of T. gondii infection and aborted fetuses was seen (P > 0.05) in different areas. According to the present study, T. gondii infection can be one of the causes of fetus abortion of sheep in North Khorasan province, Iran.
Highlights
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic obligate intracellular protozoan parasite from Apicomplexa phylum, which can cause toxoplasmosis in every warm-blooded vertebrate including mammals, birds, and rodents worldwide [1]
Toxoplasmosis can cause fetus absorption, abortion, weak, or malformed birth in sheep and goats and is one of the significant reasons for ewe’s abortion that leads to economic loss [2]. ese economic losses are due to the birth reduction of lamb, reduction of milk yield, and postabortion complications such as vaginal infection, fertilization delay, and infertility. e signs of toxoplasmosis in sheep fetuses are not exclusive and include general edema and fluid accumulation in cavities, which may be the result of intrauterus deaths [3]. e ordinary diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is based on histopathological examination and laboratory tests such as serologic tests and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [4]
Toxoplasmosis is important in nonimmunized women when they acquire the infection for the first time during their pregnancy since T. gondii is able to pass through the placenta to the fetus and causes severe complications in the fetus
Summary
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic obligate intracellular protozoan parasite from Apicomplexa phylum, which can cause toxoplasmosis in every warm-blooded vertebrate including mammals, birds, and rodents worldwide [1]. Toxoplasmosis can cause fetus absorption, abortion, weak, or malformed birth in sheep and goats and is one of the significant reasons for ewe’s abortion that leads to economic loss [2]. Ese economic losses are due to the birth reduction of lamb, reduction of milk yield, and postabortion complications such as vaginal infection, fertilization delay, and infertility. Studies have shown that the prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in aborted sheep fetuses varied between 5 and 24% worldwide and between 5 and 16% in Iran [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. North Khorasan province has mild highland weather, which qualifies the region for agriculture and animal husbandry
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