Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in goats and sheep of district Mardan, Pakistan

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in goats and sheep of District Mardan, Pakistan. Indirect Haemagglutination Test (IHA) was used for detection of T. gondii antibodies in sera. Out of 350 goats 148 (42.28%) were detected positive for T.gondii antibodies. The prevalence in male and female goats were 39 (26%) and 109 (54.5%) respectively. Goats of age ≥ 2 years had the highest seroprevalence (54.44%) followed by those of 1-2 years old (33.33%) and those ≤ 1 year old (20%). Toxoplasma gondii antibodies were detected in 128 out of 290 examined sheep (44.13%). A total of 55 (45.83%) out of 10 male sheep were detected seropositive for T. gondii infection and 73 (42.94%) out of 170 female sheep were detected seropositive. High prevalence of T. gondii was seen in female as compared to male sheep. Among the examined sheep, those which were ≥ 2 year old had the highest infection (66.66%) followed by 1-2 year old (36.36%) and ≤ 1 year old (13.33%). The seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies was higher in all goats and sheep with titer ranging from 1:80 to 1:160. The infection rate in sheep was higher as compared to goats. The results of the present study indicate that T. gondii infection is very common in goats and sheep of District Mardan, Pakistan, which may be a risk factor for public health in this area because goats and sheep are the intermediate hosts of T. gondii. Proper control strategies and suitable measures should be carried out in this region, in order to minimize the risk of exposure of human population to T. gondii infection.