Seroprevalence of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> in Pinnipeds under Human Care and in Wild Pinnipeds
<i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection has been reported in numerous species of marine mammals, some of them with fatal consequences. A serosurvey for <i>T. gondii</i> infection was conducted in pinnipeds from an oceanographic park in Portugal (<i>n</i> = 60); strande...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
MDPI AG
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/bab017edb70c47139a3a7a61460340a0 |
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| Sumario: | <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection has been reported in numerous species of marine mammals, some of them with fatal consequences. A serosurvey for <i>T. gondii</i> infection was conducted in pinnipeds from an oceanographic park in Portugal (<i>n</i> = 60); stranded pinnipeds on the Portuguese coast (<i>n</i> = 10); and pinnipeds captured in Lorenzensplate, Germany (<i>n</i> = 99). Sera from 169 pinnipeds were tested for the presence of antibodies to <i>T. gondii</i> by the modified agglutination test with a cut-off titre of 25. An overall seroprevalence of 8.9% (95% confidence interval: 5.1–14.2) was observed. Antibody titres of 25, 50, 100, 1600 and ≥3200 were found in five (33.3%), two (13.3%), five (33.3%), one (6.7%) and two (13.3%) animals, respectively. Pinnipeds under human care had a seroprevalence of 20.0% (12/60), in contrast to 2.8% (3/109) in wild pinnipeds (<i>p</i> < 0.001). General results suggest a low exposure of wild pinnipeds to <i>T. gondii</i>, while the seroprevalence found in pinnipeds under human care highlights the importance of carrying out further studies. This is the first serological survey of <i>T. gondii</i> in pinnipeds in Portugal and the first infection report in South African fur seal (<i>Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus</i>). |
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