1Department
of Zoology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan;
2Department of Microbiology, Government College
University, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3Department of
Statistics, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan;
4Veterianry Research Institute Lahore, Pakistan;
5Department
of Parasitology, Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal
Sciences, Bahawalpur
*Corresponding author:
azharrafique96@gmail.com
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii,
a protozoan parasitecan infect all
warm-blooded animals such as mammals and birds, worldwide. Infection in domestic
goats is caused by consumption of oocytes contaminated food and water. Infection
due to T. gondii causes reproductive
losses in goats and may play a key role in transmission of
T. gondii infection to humans due to
consumption of milk and meat of infected animals. The present study was aimed at
evaluating the sero-prevalence of toxoplasmosis and its associated risk factors
in goats of peri urban areas of Pakistan. A total of 240 sera samples were
collected and tested by Latex Agglutination Test. The results of the study were
subjected to Chi square test, relative risk and odds ratio to assess the
association of risk factors. According to the results age, breed and purpose of
breeding the goats had no association with the prevalence of disease. However,
gender, pregnancy, management practices and pen flooring exhibited the
association with toxoplasmosis (P<0.05). The other strongly associated risk
factors were domestic cats (P=0.001,
OR=13.06), use of stagnant water (P=0.001, OR=10.68), Number of cats (P=0.001,
OR=5.81) and access of cats to food storage (P=0.001, OR=8.96). This study
concludes that prevalence of Toxoplasma
gondii infection is still high in goats of Pakistan. The highest
seroprevalence of T. gondii was
recorded in autumn (29.5%) and the lowest in spring (10.3%). This infection is
transmitted to humans through contaminated milk and meat posing a serious Public
health problem. Awareness about risk factors in farmers can be helpful to reduce
this serious infection.
To Cite This Article:
Rafique A, Nasir S, Ashraf A, Nawaz Z, Zahid FM, Abbas A and Masood S, 2021.
Sero-surveillance and risk factors
analysis of caprine toxoplasmosis in Faisalabad Punjab, Pakistan. Pak Vet
J. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2021.020