Epidemiologic significance ofToxoplasma gondiiinfections in chickens (Gallus domesticus): the past decade

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii infections are common in humans and animals worldwide. Domestic free-range chickens (Gallus domesticus) are excellent sentinels of environmental contamination with T. gondii oocysts because they feed on the ground. Chickens can be easily infected with T. gondii; however, clinical toxoplasmosis is rare in these hosts. Chickens are comparatively inexpensive and thus are good sentinel animals for T. gondii infections on the farms. Here, the authors reviewed prevalence, the persistence of infection, clinical disease, epidemiology and genetic diversity of T. gondii strains isolated from chickens worldwide for the past decade. Data on phenotypic and molecular characteristics of 794 viable T. gondii strains from chickens are discussed, including new data on T. gondii isolates from chickens in Brazil. This paper will be of interest to biologists, epidemiologists, veterinarians and parasitologists.

Occurrence and diversity of Sarcocystidae protozoa in muscle and brain tissues of bats from São Paulo state, Brazil

“…SAG2 SAG3 BTUB GRA6 c22-8 c29-2 L358 PK1 Apico CS3 Eumops glaucinus M48 B651 I III III III III II I III I II I I 1 TgCkBr21, 93, 94 Chicken #69 Eumops glaucinus B1466 I I I III I II u-1 I I I I I 2 TgCkBr4, 10, 21, 55, 79, 86, 87, 98, 101, 102, 104, 123, 124, 144, 201, 203, 207, 265, 273, 277, 281, Es4,5, MA4, CH4,5, ChBrUD2, Pr2,3; 3 TgCatBr2, 12, 17, 21, 30, 42, 47, 53, 54, 55, 62, 71, 75; 4 TgDgBr3, 7, 20; 5 TgShBr8, 9, 10, 11; 6 TgGtBr2, 3, 4, 9; 7 TgCpBr14; 8 TgSbaBr2; 9 RR09; 10 TgDoveBr7; 11 534N; 12 PL8, S1PF2; 13 WIK, PSP-KOM, TRK1, BOF, GPHT, FOU Chicken, cat, dog, sheep, goat, capybara, banded-armadillo, black rat, eared dove, human #6 (Type BrI, Africa 1) u-1: atypical allele (Su et al, 2006); *Toxo DB: http://toxodb.org/toxo/ ; # M: muscle, B: brain. 1,2 Isolates from chickens from Brazil ( Dubey et al, 2020 , review); 3 Isolates from cats from Brazil (Pena et al, 2006; Dubey et al, 2004); 4 Isolates from dogs from Brazil ( Dubey et al, 2007 ); 5,6 Isolates from sheep and goats from Brazil, respectively ( …”

“… u-1: atypical allele (Su et al, 2006); *Toxo DB: http://toxodb.org/toxo/ ; # M: muscle, B: brain. 1,2 Isolates from chickens from Brazil ( Dubey et al, 2020 , review); 3 Isolates from cats from Brazil (Pena et al, 2006; Dubey et al, 2004); 4 Isolates from dogs from Brazil ( Dubey et al, 2007 ); 5,6 Isolates from sheep and goats from Brazil, respectively ( Ragozo et al, 2010 ); 7 Isolate from capybara from Brazil ( Yai et al, 2008 ); 8 Isolate from Euphractus sexcinctus from Brazil ( Vitaliano et al, 2014 ); 9 Isolate from Rattus rattus from Brazil ( Araújo et al, 2010 ); 10 Isolate from Zenaida auriculata from Brazil (Barros et al, 2014); 11 Human sample from Brazil (Ferreira et al, 2011); 12 Isolates from chickens from Gabon ( Dubey et al, 2020 , review); 13 Isolates from humans from Cameron, Turkey, Belgium, French Republic ( Shwab et al, 2014 ). …”

Epidemiologic significance of Toxoplasma gondii infections in turkeys, ducks, ratites and other wild birds: 2009–2020

“…We recently reviewed the biology of T. gondii infections in chickens ( Gallus domesticus ) (Dubey et al , 2020). Here, T. gondii infections in other avian species, including domestic turkeys, ducks, geese, ratites and other avian species, are reviewed.…”

“…Estimation of oocyst contamination of the environment is difficult because of low numbers present in soil or water (Lélu et al , 2012). Wild and domestic birds are excellent sentinels of environmental contamination with T. gondii oocysts because herbivorous birds feed on the ground, and birds of prey consume hundreds of rodents and other small mammals yearly that are important intermediate hosts of T. gondii (Dubey et al , 2020; Iemmi et al , 2020). Migratory birds (penguins, geese and others) can transport the parasite across seas (Sandström et al , 2013).…”

30 years of parasitology research analysed by text mining

“…Other prominent diseases appear in a variety of clusters; toxoplasmosis, for example, emerges in a cluster associated with the prevalence of parasites. This clearly reflects the global effort in Toxoplasma research to define the population structure by sampling a wide variety of hosts including chickens (Dubey et al ., 2020). The kinetoplastids ( Leishmania and Trypansosoma ) also feature predominantly in the performance data; this covers a wide range of areas such as differentiation, immunology (through the Dendritic Cell cluster), drug development and the Cardiomyopathy cluster that is closely linked to T. cruzi (González-Alcaide et al ., 2018).…”