Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in domestic goats in Satun Province, Thailand

Abstract

Goats are important domestic animals in the south of Thailand due to the minimal cost of rearing and maintaining them, and their production of both meat and milk. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most threatening parasitic zoonoses and the causative agent Toxoplasma gondii uses a wide range of warm-blooded intermediate hosts including the goat. The objective of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of antibodies to T. gondii in goats of Satun Province in Thailand. A total of 631 goat sera were examined for antibodies against toxoplasmosis with commercial latex agglutination test kits (Toxocheck-MT ‘Eiken’). Of these, 176 (27.9%) were found to be positive to T. gondii; antibody titers ranged from 1:64 to 1:4096 (1:64 cut-off). Female goats were 1.73 times more likely than male to be seropositive (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73; 95% confidential interval [CI] = 1.11, 2.73). Dairy goats were more likely to be seropositive than meat goats (OR = 1.36; 95% CI = 0.84, 2.20). Goats were infected with T. gondii with acquisition of age because older goats were more likely to be seropositive than young goats under 1-year-old (for 1–2 years, OR = 19.6; 95% CI = 0.92, 4.15, for >2 years, OR = 2.70; 95% CI = 1.26, 5.80). The high seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies found in the present study suggested widespread exposure of goats in Satun Province to T. gondii.