ABSTRACT
A comparative study of the indirect haemagglutination (IHA), immunofluorescence (IFAT) and immunoenzymatic (ELISA) tests was carried out to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in goats. One hundred seventy-four serum samples were obtained from four goat herds from the region of Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais. The distribution of the animals, according to their origin, was as follow: 71 from herd I; 39 from herd II; 37 from herd III; and 27 from herd IV. Serum samples were analyzed by IHA, IFAT and ELISA, considering the reactivity of the serum samples at dilution ≥ 1:64 as cut off titer for the three tests. A global seroprevalence of 18.4 percent was observed, with significantly higher positivity rate in the herd II (66.7 percent) and older animals (> 36 months). A high and significant positive correlation was found between the titers obtained by the IHA versus IFAT, IHA versus ELISA, and ELISA versus IFAT. Therefore, it can be concluded that the three analyzed tests have shown to be highly concordant and appropriate for epidemiological surveys of Toxoplasma infection in goats. Although the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in goats is relatively low in this region as compared to other regions of the country, adequate management might be useful and essential to control the infection in the goat herds
Subject(s)
Animals , Antibodies, Protozoan/immunology , Toxoplasma/immunology , Toxoplasmosis/immunology , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Antibodies, Protozoan/isolation & purification , Brazil/epidemiology , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods , Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect/methods , Hemagglutination Tests/methods , Prevalence , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Toxoplasma/isolation & purification , Toxoplasmosis/diagnosis , Toxoplasmosis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
We evaluated the titers os anti-T. gondii antibodies by various serological testes in 40 serum samples from dogs exhibiting clinical signs of infectios diseases. Indirect immunoflurescence (IgG-IFI), indirect haemagglutination (IHA and M-Toxo) and immunoenzymatic (ELISA and PA-ELISA) tests were carried out. Titers > 64 were considered as positive. Anti-Toxoplasma antibodies were found in 9 (22.5 per cent), 14 (35 per cent) and 12 (30 per cent) samples, respectively for IHA, IgG-IFI, ELISA and PA-ELISA. The results showed that 57 per cent were negative in all tests and 43 per cent of the dogs presented antibodies to T. gondii; from these, 20 per cent were positive in all three tests with high titers of antibodies and 23 per cent were positive in only one or two tests with low titers of antibodies and mainly related to the IFI and ELISA tests. We observed 5 (12.5 per cent) and 1 (2.5 per cent) reactive samples, respectively, by M-Toxo and IHA with or wihout 2-mercapthoethanol, in the attempt to detect specific IgM. We can conclude that serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in dog have to be based on the combination of serological tests (IFI and ELISA) and with emphasis at the determination of the titers and the classes of specific antibodies.