Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in pastoral goat herds and attendants in a neglected tropical region of Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic and foodborne disease of animals and human beings, frequently associated with abortionandneonatal loses. Toxoplasmosis is foundworldwideand infections are particularly common in warm, humid climates and at lower altitudes. Methods & Materials: A cross sectional study was carried out in Fort Munro (District, D.G.Khan) south of Punjab, Pakistan during March-May 2013, to investigate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasmaosis in apparently healthy goat herds and herd attendants. A total of 237 goats from 52 pastoral goat herds and 92 herd men were screened by LAT test.Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS 16 and Chi square test was applied. Results:Overall 27%prevalencewas recorded ingoats and19.6% was observed in herd attendants. The prevalence of disease was (14.77%) in Pahari and (12.24%) in Hairy goat breed whereas in female prevalence of diseases was significantly (P =0.02) (21.52%) higher as compared to males (5.49%). High prevalence was seen in age>1-3 years in goats. Contaminated natural reservoirs of water (P =0.022), presence of cats and dogs in herds (P =0.014) and offering raw meat offal to cats and dogs (P =0.022) were significantly associated with Toxoplasmosis for goats while mutual grazing of herds with other animals (P =0.105) was not proved to be significantly associated with Toxoplasmosis. Factors like, meat tasting while cooking (P =0.013), eating unwashed fruits and raw vegetables (P =0.04) and access of cats to drinking water and food (P =0.02) were significantly associated with Toxoplasmosis in herd attendants however consuming raw goat milk (P =0.15) was not significantly associated with Toxoplasmosis. Conclusion: The comparatively high seroprevalence in goats and their attendants in study area suggest that being a zoonotic and foodborne infection Toxoplasmosis is posturing a great risk to animal and human health. The need of monitoring, surveillance of disease and public health policies should be enforced in order to reduce the disease burden in human beings and animals.