Serological and Molecular Diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis in Human and Animals

Abstract

2 Abstract: Blood samples were collected from 56 aborted women, 127 asymptomatic occupational personnel and 630 slaughtered animals (280 sheep, 230 swine, 32 buffalo and 88 cow). Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was detected in the investigated human and animal samples by ELISA IgG assay. Nested PCR was performed on all DNA of ELISA positive human and animal samples to amplify a fragment from the B1 gene. ELISA results of human samples showed that 34 out of 56 aborted women (60.7%) and 48 out of 127 (37.8%) asymptomatic occupational personnel were positive for Toxo IgG. Concerning animals; 172 (61.4%), 185 (80.4%), 11 (34.4) and 17 (19.3%) out of 285 sheep, 230 swine, 32 buffaloes and 88 cow, respectively were positive for Toxo IgG. Results of PCR revealed that 26.5, 35.4 and 19.7% of the examined 34 aborted women, 48 asymptomatic occupational personnel and 385 animals were infected with T. gondii. In the present study, all ELISA IgG results in human and animals were higher than those of PCR. This indicates that the presence of Toxoplasma-specific antibodies was an insufficient criterion for identifying Toxoplasma infection. It can be concluded that ELISA combined with the PCR technique is a recommended tool for accurate diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis.