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Prevalence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in free-range chickens from grocery stores and farms in Maryland, Ohio and Massachusetts, USA

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Abstract

Chickens are considered important in the epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii. Chicken hearts (n = 1185) obtained from grocery stores were tested for T. gondii infection. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed in fluid removed from the heart cavity using the modified agglutination test (MAT) at 1:5, 1:25, and 1:100 dilutions. MAT antibodies were detected in 222 hearts at 1:5 dilution and 8 hearts at 1:25 dilution, but none were positive at 1:100 dilution. Seropositive (n = 230, 19.4%) chicken hearts were bioassayed in mice and seronegative (n = 157) chickens were bioassayed in cats. Viable T. gondii was not isolated from any hearts by bioassays in mice. The 2 cats fed 60 and 97 hearts did not excrete T. gondii oocysts. The results indicate a low prevalence of viable T. gondii in chickens from grocery stores. Molecular typing of 23 archived T. gondii strains isolated from free-range chickens from Ohio and Massachusetts using the 10 PCR-RFLP markers including SAG1, SAG2 (5′-3′SAG2 and altSAG2), SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, and Apico revealed that seven were ToxoDB PCR-RFLP genotype #1, 11 were genotype #2, one was genotype #3, three were genotype #170, and one was mixed genotype. These results indicate that the clonal genotypes #1 (type II), #2 (type III), and #3 (type II variant) are common in free-range chickens.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part through a grant from the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (award number 2012-67005-19611).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Yuqing Ying & Abani K. Pradhan

  2. United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Shiv K. Verma, Oliver C.H. Kwok & Jitender P. Dubey

  3. Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases), University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., S208, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Fatima Alibana & Rima Mcleod

  4. Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, M409 Walters Life Sciences, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Chunlei Su

  5. Center for Food Safety and Security Systems, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Abani K. Pradhan

Authors
  1. Yuqing Ying
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  2. Shiv K. Verma
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  3. Oliver C.H. Kwok
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  4. Fatima Alibana
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  5. Rima Mcleod
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  6. Chunlei Su
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  7. Jitender P. Dubey
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  8. Abani K. Pradhan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abani K. Pradhan.

Ethics declarations

All experiments in mice and cats were conducted in accordance with US Department of Agriculture, BAACUC protocol nos. 15-017, toxoplasmosis in mice, and 15-018, toxoplasmosis in cats, both approved May 7, 2015.

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Ying, Y., Verma, S.K., Kwok, O.C. et al. Prevalence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in free-range chickens from grocery stores and farms in Maryland, Ohio and Massachusetts, USA. Parasitol Res 116, 1591–1595 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5420-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5420-3

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