Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Among Wild Rats (Rattus rattus) in Ahvaz District, Southwestern Iran

How to Cite:Bahman Mosallanejad, Reza Avizeh, Mohammad Hossein Razi Jalali, Hossein Hamidinejat, Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Among Wild Rats (Rattus rattus) in Ahvaz District, Southwestern Iran.Jundishapur J Microbiol.2012;5(1):332-335.https://doi.org/10.5812/kowsar.20083645.2373.

Abstract

Background: The protist pathogen Toxoplasma gondii infects humans and other animals such as wild rats (Rattus rattus) worldwide. Wild rats are infected with T. gondii due to ingestion of food or water contaminated with oocysts and may play an important role in the transmission of T. gondii infection to humans.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii among wild rats in Ahvaz district, southwestern Iran.
Materials and Methods: We determined the seroprevalence of T. gondii among wild rats (R. rattus) in Ahvaz district between February 2008 and January 2011. Immunochromatographic assay (ICA) to detect serum antibodies against T. gondii was performed for 127 adult wild rats. The rats were captured in cages and brought alive to the Veterinary Hospital of Shahid Chamran University. The rats were classified according to sex and season and region of capture. The results were analyzed by Chi-square analysis and Fisher’s exact test.
Results: Thirty-one of the 127 serum samples (24.41%) had antibodies against T. gondii (95% Confidence interval; 16.9–31.9%). Prevalence was higher in female rats (24.66%) than in male rats (24.07%). The rats caught during summer (34.48%) and in the east region of Ahvaz district (36.36%) showed high prevalence. However, the gender, season and region of collection did not significantly affect the prevalence of infection (P > 0.05).
Conclusions: Our study showed that the seroprevalence of T. gondii was relatively high (24.41%) among wild rats in the Ahvaz district of Iran. The high prevalence of T. gondii infection in rodents may be of epidemiological importance as infected rodents are a potential route for T. gondii transmission to Felidae via ingestion of tissue cysts.

Keywords

Toxoplasma gondii

Rats

Fulltext

Full text is available in PDF

comments

Crossmark

Checking

Share on

Comments

Number of Comments:0

Cited by

Metrics

Get Permission (article level)

Purchasing Reprints

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) handles bulk orders for article reprints for Brieflands. To place an order for reprints, please click here ( https://www.copyright.com/landing/reprintsinquiryform/ ). Clicking this link will bring you to a CCC request form where you can provide the details of your order. Once complete, please click the ‘Submit Request’ button and CCC’s Reprints Services team will generate a quote for your review.

Search Relations

Author(s):

Bahman Mosallanejad:[PubMed][Scholar]
Reza Avizeh:[PubMed][Scholar]
Mohammad Hossein Razi Jalali:[PubMed][Scholar]
Hossein Hamidinejat:[PubMed][Scholar]