Toxoplasma gondii e Neospora em felinos e suínos do Estado da Paraíba, Brasil.

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum are protozoans of the genus Apicomplexan able to infect a large variety of warm-blooded animals. The T. gondii is a zoonotic disease, has the cat as definitive host and raw or undercooked consumption of pork meat infected is considered an important source of transmission for humans. The N. caninum is a zoonosis, has as definitive host the dog, this parasite is responsible for causing neurological disease in dogs and abortions in cattle, goats and sheep. This dissertation is formed by two chapters. The first entitled Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in domestic cats from the Brazilian semi-arid: seroprevalence and risk factors, submitted Research in Veterinary Science, was to verifiedthe seroprevalence of T. gondiiandN. caninum in stray and domiciled cats from the municipality of Patos, Paraíba state, Brazil. Blood samples were collected from 201 animals: 132 domiciled cats and 69 stray cats.An epidemiological questionnaire was conducted with all cat owners. Indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) was performed at cut-offs of 1:16 and 1:50 for T. gondiiandN. caninum, respectively. Overall prevalence of positive cats for T. gondiiwas 43.78%. We found prevalence of 47.7% of domiciled cats and 36.23% of stray cats. Antibody titers ranged from1:16 (cut-off) to 1:8192;1:128 was the most frequent titer. No statistical difference was observed between domiciled cats and stray cats. Correlation was verified between seropositivityforT. gondii and age and hunting habit (p <0.05). No animals tested positive for N. caninum. It was possible to conclude that there is high prevalence of cats positive for T. gondii and that N. caninum is not present in cats from the area studied. In the second chapter, entitled Serological profile and isolation of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum from pigs of Paraíba State, Brazil, verified the presence of antibodes anti-T. gondii and N.caninum, associated risk factors and isolation the T. gondii from slaughtered pigs of Paraíba State, Brazil. It was used 190 pigs from public slaughterhouses. The test used for the detection of antibodies was the indirect immunofluorescence and isolation was performed from animal tissues positives. Brain, heart and tongue (total 50g) of 37 pigs positive with titers 1:64 were ground, digested in pepsin and inoculated in mice. The prevalence of antibodies anti- T.gondii was 19:47% (37/190) with titers ranging from 64 to 2048. Viable cysts of T. gondii were isolated from 14 of 37 (40.53%) seropositive pigs. The virulence of the isolates was varied, three were able to kill all the inoculated mice. Risk factors for serology and isolation were, respectively, extensive breeding and feeding with leftovers, age over of nine months and feeding with leftovers. The prevalence of antibodies to N. caninum in pigs was 15.3% (6/190) with titers ranging from 100 to 3200. None of the variables were considered risk factors for N. caninum. These results shows that is high the prevalence of antibodies anti-T. gondii in swine in Paraíba State, as is high as the percentage of viable cysts recovered these animals and the management of swine is intimately related to infection by this parasite. Despite the low prevalence of N. caninum in pigs it is necessary studies to determine the importance of this parasite in this species.