Toxoplasmosis in cats from a dairy-producing region in Hidalgo, Mexico

Abstract

Considering that the ingestion of cat feces containing Toxoplasma gondii oocysts is a major transmission route for toxoplasmosis, this work is aimed to assess the presence of T. gondii in cats dwelling in dairy production facilities at the Tizayuca Agro-Industrial Complex (CAIT, by its acronym in Spanish) in Hidalgo, Mexico. Blood samples from stray and owned cats were assayed by indirect ELISA, and samples from various tissues were collected at post-mortem examination of positive cats for DNA extraction, PCR, histopathologic studies, and immunohistochemistry. A questionnaire was applied in each dairy production unit to estimate cat ownership. From 70 animals studied (22 stray and 48 owned), 12 (17.1 %) were seropositive (7 stray and 5 owned). No differences were found for age or sex according to the questionnaires, but ingesting raw food was a risk factor (P < 0.01). Of the 12 positive cats, 5 were euthanized; of these, five tissue samples from 4 cats were positive for the B1 and 529 bp repetitive sequences by qPCR and conventional PCR. No macro- or microscopic lesions suggestive of T. gondii infection were found in cats.