Epidemiological aspects of Toxoplasma gondii infection in riverside communities in the Southern Brazilian Amazon

INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasma gondii infection is widely prevalent in humans and other animals worldwide. Information on the prevalence of T. gondii infection is scarce in some regions of Brazil, including riverside communities along the Amazon River basin. M METHODS: The prevalence of T. gondii in 231 p...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical Vol. 48; no. 3; p. 301
Main Authors:	Sérgio, Neto Vitaliano, Gabriel, Maciel despace Mendonça, Felipe, Amsterdam Maia de Sandres, Juliana, despaceSouza Almeida Aranha, Paulo, despace Tarso, Sérgio, despaceAlmeida Basano, Jéssica, Carolinne Damasceno e, Viviane, Krominski Graça de Souza, Cartonilho, Glenci, Alexandre, Thomé da Silva de, Solange, Maria Gennari, Luís, Marcelo Aranha Camargo
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Rio de Janeiro Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical 01-05-2015
Subjects:	Epidemiology Genetics Infections Brazil Amazon Basin
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasma gondii infection is widely prevalent in humans and other animals worldwide. Information on the prevalence of T. gondii infection is scarce in some regions of Brazil, including riverside communities along the Amazon River basin. M METHODS: The prevalence of T. gondii in 231 people, aged 1-85 years, who were living in four riverside communities along the Purus River, Lábrea, State of Amazonas, Brazil, was determined. Antibodies against T. gondii were assayed using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The hearts and brains of 50 chickens, which were raised free-range in the communities, were pooled according to the community of origin and bioassayed in mice. The isolates were genotyped using polymorphisms at 12 nuclear markers (SAG1, 5' and 3'-SAG2, alt.SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, Apico and CS3). RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii was 56.7% (131/231). IgG antibodies were presented by 117 (89.3%) and IgM by 14 (10.7%) of the 131 positive individuals. No association between age group and gender with prevalence was observed (chi-square test, p > 0.05); however, the comparison between localities showed that the seroprevalence of T. gondii was significantly lower among the individuals living in the Boca do Ituxi (p < 0.05) community. Five isolates of T. gondii were obtained in the mouse bioassay, and genotyping revealed two complete genotypes that had not been described previously and three mixed isolates. CONCLUSIONS: These results support previous findings that T. gondii population genetics are highly diverse in Brazil and that T. gondii infection is active in these riverside communities.
ISSN:	0037-8682 1678-9849
DOI:	10.1590/0037-8682-0040-201