Abstract
A serologic survey was conducted among 130 swine slaughtered in the public slaughterhouse of the city of Patos, Paraíba State, Northeastern Brazil, to determine the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies, and to verify possible associations between sex of the animals and antibody prevalence. The sera were analyzed by indirect antibody tests, considering 1:64 (T. gondii) and 1:50 (N. caninum) dilutions as cut-off points. The prevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies was 36.2% (47/130) (95% CI = 27.9 - 45.0%) with reciprocal titers ranging from 64 to 2,048, and of anti-N. caninum antibodies was 3.1% (4/130) (95% CI = 0.8 - 7.7%) with reciprocal titers ranging from 50 to 6,400. Three of the four N. caninum-positive samples were also positive for T. gondii antibodies. All Neospora and Toxoplasma IFAT-positive animals were also positive for confirmatory immunoblotting techniques using total and purified N. caninum and T. gondii tachyzoite antigens, i.e., p38 (NcSRS2) and p30 (TgSAG1). There was no association between sex of animals and prevalence of anti-T. gondii and anti-N. caninum antibodies. This is the first indication of N. caninum natural infection in pigs from Brazil.
Highlights
The production and productivity indices of swine herds can be influenced by several conditions including genetic, environmental, nutritional, toxic, management, and infectious factors
It is accepted that Neospora caninum is a significant cause of bovine abortion worldwide and, with the exception of dogs, the disease has rarely been described in other species (DUBEY; LINDSAY, 1996; DUBEY, 1999)
Experimental infection of sows led to transplacental transmission of N. caninum (JENSEN et al, 1998) but naturally acquired porcine infection has not been described and nothing is known on its possible presence in the pig population of Brazil
Summary
The production and productivity indices of swine herds can be influenced by several conditions including genetic, environmental, nutritional, toxic, management, and infectious factors. Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide zoonosis (ACHA; SZYFRES, 2003), and its control in pigs is important for consumer protection. This infection may affect the reproduction of sows (DUBEY; URBAN, 1990; GIRALDI et al, 1996; JUNGERSEN et al, 2001) and productivity of pigs in general and may play an important role in the swine industry. It is accepted that Neospora caninum is a significant cause of bovine abortion worldwide and, with the exception of dogs, the disease has rarely been described in other species (DUBEY; LINDSAY, 1996; DUBEY, 1999). Experimental infection of sows led to transplacental transmission of N. caninum (JENSEN et al, 1998) but naturally acquired porcine infection has not been described and nothing is known on its possible presence in the pig population of Brazil
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