Prevalence and genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in naturally-infected synanthropic rats (Rattus norvegicus) and mice (Mus musculus) in eastern China

Abstract

BackgroundSynanthropic rats and mice share the same environment with humans and play an important role in epidemiology of toxoplasmosis; however, there is limited information about prevalence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in synanthropic rats and mice in China.FindingsIn the present study, the prevalence and genetic characterization of T. gondii naturally infected synanthropic rodents (Rattus norvegicus and Mus musculus) were investigated in the urban area of Xuzhou city, Eastern China between June 2013 and August 2014. DNA from the brain of each animal was prepared and screened by specific PCR assay targeting 35-fold repeated B1 gene (B1-PCR). PCR positive DNA samples were further genotyped by multi-locus PCR-RFLP. Overall, out of 123 synanthropic rodents, 29 samples were positive by B1 gene-targeted PCR (23.6%). Of these, 7 out of 31 (22.3%) M. musculus were positive, whereas the positive rate of R. norvegicus was 23.9% (22/92). Multi-locus PCR-RFLP analysis reveals that seven PCR-positive samples were completely genotyped and they were identified as type China 1 (ToxoDB# 9).ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first report of molecular detection and genetic characterization of T. gondii infection in synanthropic rodents in Eastern China. The results of the present study showed a high infection pressure of T. gondii exists in the environment and synanthropic rodents infected by T. gondii may be an important source of infection for cats and other animals.

Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum infections in synanthropic rodents from Argentina

“…In addition, the 2 samples that were negative and with an intermediate titter (1/200) by IFAT resulted positive by PCR, however genotyping was not plausible, suggesting that the amount of T. gondii DNA tissues was low. On the other hand, a low percentage of T. gondii serologically positive animals resulted also positive by PCR, similar as reported by other authors (RUFFOLO et al, 2016;YAN et al, 2014).…”

“…Several studies reported the occurrence of T. gondii natural infection in rodents, by the detection of specific antibodies and/or parasite DNA, or by parasite isolation (DUBEY & FRENKEL, 1998;YAN et al, 2014). In the case of N. caninum, there are only reports of serological study (FERROGLIO et al, 2007;HUANG et al, 2004).…”

Abundance Detection and Molecular Characterization of Toxoplasma gondii by SAG1 Gene in Rodents and Cattle of Golestan Province, Northeast of Iran

“…In 2013, Cong detected house sparrows toxoplasmosis in China, Khademvatan detected birds toxoplasmosis in southwest of Iran and Ortega found pigs toxoplasmosis in Mexico [22][23][24][25][26]. Most of the [26][27][28][29][30]. In recent years have not perform any studies to detect rodents and cattle toxoplasmosis at the same time in Golestan area.…”

“…This study showed important role of rodents and cattle in dissemination of toxoplasmosis in humid area. In this study we showed that the SAG1 gene was very important marker to detection of abundance of zoonotic toxoplasmosis and brain or heart tissue was main tissues to follow SAG1 gene from Tachyzoites of Toxoplasma parasite, also the rodents and cattle were very important reservoirs in dissemination of toxoplasmosis to human in Golestan area, northeast of Iran [26][27][28][29][30].…”

Rodent-borne health risks in farming systems

“…In Brazil, wild feral rodents (Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris)) were tested for T. gondii DNA and showed a prevalence of 15.4% (n=26) (Truppel et al, 2010). In China, a PCR study to detect T. gondii DNA showed 22.3% of M. musculus to be positive (n=31) and 23.9% of the R. norvegicus trapped to be positive (n=92) (Yan et al, 2014), which are relatively high percentages compared to other DNA studies on rodents.…”