Prevalence and Risk Factors of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> Infection Among Five Wild Rodent Species from Five Provinces of China

Abstract

<i>Toxoplasma gondii</i>, an intracellular zoonotic parasite, can infect humans and various animals worldwide. Wild rodents plan an important role as intermediate hosts of <i>T. gondii</i>. Some studies on <i>T. gondii</i> from wild rodents have been published, but the investigation data of <i>T. gondii</i> in wild rodents in China are limited. Therefore, brain tissue samples from 382 wild rodents in four provinces and one autonomous region of China were screened by PCR amplification of <i>T. gondii</i> B1 gene. Furthermore, the wild rodents were identified as five species based on their morphological characteristics, including <i>Citellus dauricus</i> (<i>n</i> = 35 from Heilongjiang), <i>Lasiopodomys brandti</i> (<i>n</i> = 81 from Inner Mongolia), <i>Apodemus agrarius</i> (<i>n</i> = 12 from Heilongjiang), <i>Rattus norvegicus</i> (<i>n</i> = 2 from Heilongjiang; <i>n</i> = 99 from Zhejiang; <i>n</i> = 54 from Shanxi), and <i>Mus musculus</i> (<i>n</i> = 99 from Guangxi). The overall prevalence of <i>T. gondii</i> in these wild rodents was 5.24% (20/382) in this study. At different regions, the highest prevalence of <i>T. gondii</i> was in Guangxi (12.12%) compared with other regions (0% in Heilongjiang; 2.47% in Inner Mongolia; 2.02% in Zhejiang; 7.41% in Shanxi). At different climates, the higher prevalence was found in temperate/mesothermal climates (7.07%) compared with continental/microthermal climates (3.26%). Also, the results showed that <i>M. musculus</i> had the highest prevalence of <i>T. gondii</i> infection (12.12%) among the rodent species sampled. Moreover, sampling year was significantly related to the prevalence of <i>T. gondii</i> in investigated wild rodents (<i>p</i> = 0.0117). This is the first report of <i>T. gondii</i> in wild rodents from Zhejiang, Guangxi, Shanxi, Heilongjiang provinces and Inner Mongolia autonomous region in China, providing the fundamental information for further prevention and control of toxoplasmosis in China.