ABSTRACT
Little is known of Toxoplasma gondii infections in animals in Portugal. In the present paper, we report the first isolation of viable T. gondii from pigs in Portugal. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 52 (15.6%) of 333 pigs prior to slaughter using the modified agglutination test (MAT) at a serum dilution of 1:20. Attempts were made to isolate T. gondii from 37 seropositive pigs. Samples of brain and/or heart from each pig were digested in acid pepsin, and bioassayed into mice. Viable T. gondii was isolated from 15 pigs. Restriction fragment length polymorphism on products of SAG2 locus amplified by PCR and microsatellite analysis revealed that 11 isolates were Type II and four were Type III. The results indicate that phenotypically and genetically T. gondii are similar to isolates from pigs from the U.S.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Protozoan/genetics , Protozoan Proteins/genetics , Swine Diseases/parasitology , Toxoplasma/genetics , Toxoplasma/isolation & purification , Toxoplasmosis, Animal/parasitology , Agglutination Tests/methods , Agglutination Tests/veterinary , Animals , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Biological Assay/methods , Biological Assay/veterinary , Chlorocebus aethiops , DNA, Protozoan/chemistry , DNA, Protozoan/isolation & purification , Genotype , Mice , Microsatellite Repeats/genetics , Phenotype , Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length , Portugal/epidemiology , Swine , Swine Diseases/epidemiology , Toxoplasma/classification , Toxoplasma/immunology , Toxoplasmosis, Animal/epidemiology , Vero Cells/parasitologyABSTRACT
Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are related parasites. The former is a common cause of abortion in dairy cattle. The latter has not been conclusively demonstrated in bovine fetuses. During the course of attempts to isolate N. caninum from aborted fetuses, T. gondii was isolated from 2 aborted fetuses, 1 from Portugal and 1 from the United States. Both isolates were made by bioassay of fetal brains in mice. The fetus from Portugal was about 5 mo in gestational age, and the fetus from the United States was a full-term stillborn.
