Dataset Information

Prevalence, molecular detection and risk factors investigation for the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii in slaughter pigs in North India.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Toxoplasma gondii, an important food borne zoonotic parasite, infects almost all warm-blooded animals including pigs. People primarily become infected with T. gondii via consuming meat of infected animals. Status of T. gondii is largely unknown in pigs in India including northern regions. We, therefore, determined the prevalence of T. gondii infection in pigs from North India. RESULTS:DNA of T. gondii was detected in 6.7% (54/810) of the tested slaughter pigs. Highest prevalence was observed in pigs from Punjab (8.2%) followed by Chandigarh (5.3%) and Uttarakhand (4.8%). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolates from pigs had 96-100% nucleotide identity with Type I RH strain (AF179871), 96-99.7% with VEG type III strain (LN714499) and 67-72% with type II ME 49 strain (XM002370240). However, low level of polymorphism in the targeted B1 gene did not allow the determination of the clonal lineages of the isolates. Antibodies against T. gondii was reported in 48.3% (73/151) of the sera obtained from pigs slaughtered at Chandigarh abattoir, and scavenging by pigs was a significant risk factor. CONCLUSION:Prevalence of T. gondii DNA was low in pigs in North India, however, presence of the parasite warrants food safety concerns. Further studies are required to identify the clonal lineage of T. gondii circulating in pigs reared in North India. Pig farmers should be educated about the hygienic management practices.

SUBMITTER: Thakur R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6889447 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Prevalence, molecular detection and risk factors investigation for the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii in slaughter pigs in North India.

Thakur Rashmi R Sharma Rajnish R Aulakh R S RS Gill J P S JPS Singh B B BB

BMC veterinary research 20191203 1

<h4>Background</h4>Toxoplasma gondii, an important food borne zoonotic parasite, infects almost all warm-blooded animals including pigs. People primarily become infected with T. gondii via consuming meat of infected animals. Status of T. gondii is largely unknown in pigs in India including northern regions. We, therefore, determined the prevalence of T. gondii infection in pigs from North India.<h4>Results</h4>DNA of T. gondii was detected in 6.7% (54/810) of the tested slaughter pigs. Highest p ...[more]

PMID: 31796031

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Project description:BackgroundIn slaughterhouse, veterinarians responsible for meat inspection are often confronted with abnormalities in carcasses, not only in pigs but in all livestock species. In 2017, a veterinarian responsible for meat inspection in a slaughterhouse in Styria, Austria, observed gluteal muscles infiltrated by fat and muscle tissue obviously being replaced by fat in two different slaughter pigs. These muscles were sent for further diagnostics to the University Clinic for Swine.ResultsThe two muscle samples were investigated histopathologically and diagnosed with fatty muscular dystrophy. The results of routine histopathology were confirmed by dystrophin-specific immunohistochemistry. Sex of the two affected animals was determined retrospectively using a PCR-based protocol and resulted in one male and one female pig. A survey to determine the prevalence of fatty muscular disorders of pork revealed that this phenomenon gets frequently observed in Styria, but also occurs in Upper Austria and Lower Austria. Mostly gluteal and lumbal muscles were affected and approximately 20-40% of the affected muscles were replaced by fat.ConclusionsFatty muscular dystrophy or muscular steatosis, as it was sometimes called in early literature, seems not to be an uncommon and rare event and is known to have several different causes. As it was detected in both sexes, our observations are different to the described case in Japan, where only one male individual was affected. To avoid further increase of such cases (fatty muscular dystrophy), it would be useful to clarify the cause. First, whether the cause is environmental or genetic, and in case it is genetic it would be key to disentangle the underlying genomic architecture. Having causal variants described-one could think about integrating this information (depending on the mode of inheritance and the number of loci involved) in the breeding program of pigs. Furthermore, the proportion of non-Austrian pig genetics used for commercial pig production in Austria should be reviewed in order to be able to make reliable statements about the spread of the disease not only in Austrian pig breeds, but also in pig breeds worldwide.

Project description:Toxoplasma gondii parasites present strong but geographically varied signatures of population structure. Populations sampled from Europe and North America have commonly been defined by over-representation of a small number of clonal types, in contrast to greater diversity in South America. The occurrence and extent of genetic diversity in African T. gondii populations remains understudied, undermining assessments of risk and transmission. The present study was designed to establish the occurrence, genotype and phylogeny of T. gondii in meat samples collected from livestock produced for human consumption (free-range chickens, n = 173; pigs, n = 211), comparing with T. gondii detected in blood samples collected from seropositive pregnant women (n = 91) in Benue state, Nigeria. The presence of T. gondii DNA was determined using a published nested polymerase chain reaction, targeting the 529 bp multicopy gene element. Samples with the highest parasite load (assessed using quantitative PCR) were selected for PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) targeting the surface antigen 3 (SAG3), SAG2 (5' and 3'), beta-tubulin (BTUB) and dense granule protein 6 (GRA6) loci, and the apicoplast genome (Apico). Toxoplasma gondii DNA was detected in all three of the populations sampled, presenting 30.6, 31.3 and 25.3% occurrence in free-range chickens, pigs and seropositive pregnant women, respectively. Quantitative-PCR indicated low parasite occurrence in most positive samples, limiting some further molecular analyses. PCR-RFLP results suggested that T. gondii circulating in the sampled populations presented with a type II genetic background, although all included a hybrid type I/II or II/III haplotype. Concatenation of aligned RFLP amplicon sequences revealed limited diversity with nine haplotypes and little indication of host species-specific or spatially distributed sub-populations. Samples collected from humans shared haplotypes with free-range chickens and/or pigs. Africa remains under-explored for T. gondii genetic diversity and this study provides the first detailed definition of haplotypes circulating in human and animal populations in Nigeria.

Dataset Information

Prevalence, molecular detection and risk factors investigation for the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii in slaughter pigs in North India.

Publications

Prevalence, molecular detection and risk factors investigation for the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii in slaughter pigs in North India.

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