Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic food-borne disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, a land-derived protozoan parasite that infects a broad range of terrestrial and aquatic hosts. T. gondii may reach coastal waters via contaminated freshwater runoff and its oocysts may enter into the marine food web. Marine invertebrates as mussels being filter feeders are exposed and may concentrate T. gondii oocysts representing a potential source of infection for animals and humans. The present works investigated the prevalence, parasite burden and genotypes of T. gondii in the Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from southern Italy. We sampled a total of 382 individual Mediterranean mussels from May to August 2018 from seven production sites in the Gulf of Naples (Campania region). An additional sample including 27 farmed Mediterranean mussels was obtained in February 2018 from a mollusk depuration plant in Corigliano Calabro (Calabria region). T. gondii DNA was detected in 43 out of 409 (10.5%) Mediterranean mussels from seven out of eight sampling sites. The number of T. gondii copies/g in the digestive gland ranged from 0.14 to 1.18. Fragment analysis of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) at 5 microsatellite loci was performed from 10 T. gondii PCR positive samples revealing the presence of five distinct genotypes including one corresponding to type I and four atypical genotypes. These findings suggest potential implications of epidemiological importance for human and animal health because both type I and atypical genotypes could be highly pathogenic.
Highlights
Toxoplasmosis is a food-borne zoonotic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite with a global distribution and great ability to infect a broad range of hosts
Toxoplasma gondii DNA was detected in 39 out of 382 (10.2%) Mediterranean mussels from six out of seven sampling sites in the Gulf of Naples, and in four out of 27 individuals from the mollusk depuration plant in Corigliano Calabro
This study reports on the quantitative molecular data and genotyping of T. gondii in the Mediterranean mussels from the Mediterranean Sea, and provides the first evidence of new atypical genotypes within the marine environment and marine food chain
Summary
Toxoplasmosis is a food-borne zoonotic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite with a global distribution and great ability to infect a broad range of hosts. Its life cycle includes three infectious stages: tachyzoites, free parasites in host fluids and infecting host cells in the acute stage; bradyzoites, occurring in tissue cysts, and sporozoites contained inside the oocysts shed with the feces to the environment by felids (definitive hosts). The major routes of T. gondii infection to humans include the accidental ingestion of sporulated oocysts in water, fruits or vegetables, and consumption of raw and undercooked meat containing tissue cysts of the parasite (Mead et al, 1999; Pereira et al, 2010; Robert-Gangneux and Dardè, 2012). Several studies support the hypothesis that T. gondii genotypes may be related to different disease severities in both animals and humans (see RobertGangneux and Dardè, 2012)
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