Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii is a pathogen that poses a serious threat to human health and causes significant economic losses to the global livestock industry. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection has been reported to be high in humans and animals around the world, but the occurrence of the disease has not yet been reported in water buffaloes in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China. To understand the overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in Guangxi, a total of 1041 water buffalo and 114 cat serum samples were examined using an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA). Of the 1041 water buffaloes analyzed, an overall seroprevalence of 52.9% (551/1041) was obtained, with year, season, and city location being significant factors affecting the rate of T. gondii infection in water buffaloes (P < 0.001). The results also revealed a high seroprevalence of 57% (65/114) in cats. Given that buffalo milk and meat products are vital food sources, these findings suggest that toxoplasmosis in water buffaloes may be a public health threat. This study provides the first T. gondii seroprevalence data in Guangxi, which could contribute to the prevention and control of toxoplasmosis in the region.
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Acknowledgements
We would also like to show our appreciation to Hongtao Zhang for his technical assistance.
Funding
This work was supported by the Specific Research Project of Guangxi for Research Base and Talents (Grant No. AD22035040) and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Student (Grant No. 202110593153).
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Conceptualization: DH and XS; investigation: MH, HH and, XC; writing—original draft: MH and HH; validation: XC and DW; software: DH; resources: YY and KS; writing—reviewing and editing: DW, DH, and XS; funding acquisition: XS and HH; supervision: DH and XS. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The use of animals in this study was approved by the Administration Committee of Laboratory Animals in Guangxi University and was performed in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines (approval number: Gxu-2021–012).
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Huang, M., Huang, H., Cao, X. et al. Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in water buffaloes and cats in Guangxi, China. Parasitol Res 123, 18 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-08055-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-08055-3