Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum infection of cats in Hungary

Abstract

Blood samples were collected from 330 cats in Hungary in order to evaluate their seroconversion to Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum using the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). The overall prevalence of toxoplasmosis was 47.6%, the prevalence being 22.4% among urban, 50% among suburban and 61.3% among rural animals. Significantly more cats had high IFAT titres (1:640 to 1:5120) in the countryside. Female cats were more frequently infected with T. gondii than males (53.3% vs. 39.3%), and seropositivity increased with the age of animals. The prevalence (0.6%) and titre (1:40) of antibodies to N. caninum was low. Sixty-two cats were also screened for seroconversion to feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus. Higher titres to T. gondii were more frequently detected among FIP-positive cats, but this difference was non-significant due to the small number of cats with concurrent infection.

Serological detection of Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania infantum and Neospora caninum in cats from an area endemic for leishmaniasis in Brazil

“…Although environmental conditions seem to be an important factor for neosporosis infection, owing to the higher probability of contact with reservoirs of infection and final hosts (HORNOK et al, 2008), the results of this study did not reveal a significant correlation between the area of activity and the probability of infection with N. caninum.…”

Occurrence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii and anti-Neospora caninum antibodies in cats with outdoor access in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil

“…On the other hand, it was higher than what was found by Dubey et al (2002) in Brazil (11.9%; cutoff > 1:40), and by Hornok et al (2008) in Hungary (0.6%; cutoff > 1:40). The possibility of cross-reactions with T. gondii was ruled out, given that serological cross-reactivity often occurs with soluble antigens; in the case of IFAT, it does not occur .…”

“…Regarding economic importance in livestock, N. caninum is recognized as an important cause of abortion in cattle . Most likely because cats may only play a minor role in the epidemiology of N. caninum infection, there are only a few reports on naturally acquired seropositivity to N. caninum among cats (DUBEY et al, 2002;FERROGLIO et al, 2005;BRESCIANI et al, 2007;HORNOK et al, 2008). The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of anti-T. gondii and anti-N. caninum antibodies in cats with outdoor access in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil.…”

The Life Cycle of Toxoplasma gondii in the Natural Environment

“…The cat serological prevalences predicted by [10] agree with values observed along the urban rural gradient: when natural populations (as opposed to heterogeneous samples constituted from veterinary clinics or facilities) are considered, seroprevalences are clearly lower in urban (between 15 % to 26% [41,33,34,42,43]) than in rural areas (48% to 87.3% [44,30,45,32,42]). They also reach high values in non-anthropized areas: 51% in Kerguelen island [46].…”