High prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in a commercial flock of chickens in Israel, and public health implications of free-range farming

J. P. Dubey; H. Salant; C. Sreekumar; E. Dahl; M. C.B. Vianna; S. K. Shen; O. C.H. Kwok; D. Spira; J. Hamburger; T. V. Lehmann

doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.03.004

High prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in a commercial flock of chickens in Israel, and public health implications of free-range farming

J. P. Dubey^*, H. Salant, C. Sreekumar, E. Dahl, M. C.B. Vianna, S. K. Shen, O. C.H. Kwok, D. Spira, J. Hamburger, T. V. Lehmann

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada (IMRIC)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

Little is known of the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in commercially raised chickens. In the present study, the prevalence of T. gondii in 96 free-range chickens (Gallus domesticus) from a commercial farm in Israel was assessed. Blood, heart, and brain from each chicken were examined for T. gondii infection. Antibodies to T. gondii, assayed with the modified agglutination test (MAT≥1:5), were found in 45 of the 96 chickens. Hearts and brains of seropositive (MAT≥1:5) chickens were bioassayed in mice. Additionally, hearts and brains of 51 seronegative (MAT<1:5) chickens were bioassayed in two T. gondii-free cats. T. gondii was isolated from 19 of the 45 (42.2%) seropositive chickens by bioassay in mice. Both the cats fed tissues pooled from seronegative chickens shed T. gondii oocysts. Tachyzoites and tissue cysts of all 21 isolates of T. gondii from chickens were avirulent for mice. Seventeen of the 19 isolates genotyped were found to be type II, and 2 were type III. Understanding of the sources of infection on such farms could be the key to the development of better prevention strategies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	317-322
Number of pages	6
Journal	Veterinary Parasitology
Volume	121
Issue number	3-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.03.004
State	Published - 26 May 2004

Keywords

Chickens
Gallus domesticus
Genotyping
Isolation
Israel
Toxoplasma gondii
Toxoplasmosis

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10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.03.004

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Dubey, J. P., Salant, H., Sreekumar, C., Dahl, E., Vianna, M. C. B., Shen, S. K., Kwok, O. C. H., Spira, D., Hamburger, J., & Lehmann, T. V. (2004). High prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in a commercial flock of chickens in Israel, and public health implications of free-range farming. Veterinary Parasitology, 121(3-4), 317-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.03.004

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abstract = "Little is known of the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in commercially raised chickens. In the present study, the prevalence of T. gondii in 96 free-range chickens (Gallus domesticus) from a commercial farm in Israel was assessed. Blood, heart, and brain from each chicken were examined for T. gondii infection. Antibodies to T. gondii, assayed with the modified agglutination test (MAT≥1:5), were found in 45 of the 96 chickens. Hearts and brains of seropositive (MAT≥1:5) chickens were bioassayed in mice. Additionally, hearts and brains of 51 seronegative (MAT<1:5) chickens were bioassayed in two T. gondii-free cats. T. gondii was isolated from 19 of the 45 (42.2%) seropositive chickens by bioassay in mice. Both the cats fed tissues pooled from seronegative chickens shed T. gondii oocysts. Tachyzoites and tissue cysts of all 21 isolates of T. gondii from chickens were avirulent for mice. Seventeen of the 19 isolates genotyped were found to be type II, and 2 were type III. Understanding of the sources of infection on such farms could be the key to the development of better prevention strategies.",

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High prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in a commercial flock of chickens in Israel, and public health implications of free-range farming

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Keywords

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