Evaluation of ovine abortion associated with Toxoplasma gondii in Spain by different diagnostic techniques

• Published in: Veterinary parasitology Vol. 121; no. 1; pp. 33 - 43
• Main Authors: Pereira-Bueno, J., Quintanilla-Gozalo, A., Pérez-Pérez, V., Álvarez-Garcı́a, G., Collantes-Fernández, E., Ortega-Mora, L.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 07.05.2004
• Subjects: Aborted Fetus - parasitology; Aborted Fetus - pathology; Abortion; abortion (animals); Abortion, Veterinary - parasitology; Abortion, Veterinary - pathology; Animals; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; antibody detection; Brain - parasitology; Brain - pathology; diagnostic techniques; disease detection; disease diagnosis; disease prevalence; DNA, Protozoan - chemistry; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay - veterinary; Female; fetus; fluorescent antibody technique; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect - veterinary; Gestational Age; goats; Histocytochemistry - veterinary; Histopathology; PCR; polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - veterinary; Pregnancy; Serology; Sheep; Sheep Diseases - parasitology; Sheep Diseases - pathology; Sheep protozoa; Spain; Statistics, Nonparametric; Toxoplasma - genetics; Toxoplasma - isolation & purification; Toxoplasma gondii; toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasmosis, Animal - blood; Toxoplasmosis, Animal - complications; Toxoplasmosis, Animal - parasitology; Toxoplasmosis, Animal - pathology; Spain; Serology; Toxoplasma gondii; Histopathology; Abortion; PCR; Sheep protozoa
• ISSN: 0304-4017; 1873-2550
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2004.02.004

A total of 173 aborted ovine foetuses and seven aborted caprine foetuses, submitted from different points of north and central Spain, were analysed to determine the role of T. gondii in abortion and to compare the utility of the most widely used techniques in diagnosis of the congenital infection (histopathology, serology—IFAT and ELISA—and a nested-PCR). Parasite infection was diagnosed in 40 (23.1%; n=173) ovine foetuses by at least one of the diagnostic techniques used. A higher percentage of foetuses were diagnosed using serological techniques (IFAT and ELISA) (28.3%; n=106) than by histologic examination (8.7%; n=173) or PCR (6.9%; n=173). No significant association between infection and the foetal age categories was found ( P>0.05). In this study, 106 aborted foetuses were analysed by all of the three diagnostic techniques. When we compared serological results, perfect agreement between ELISA and IFAT was obtained. On the contrary, slight to fair agreements were observed when histology results were compared with those obtained by serology and PCR techniques. All the positive foetuses were aborted in the mid (60%) or last (40%) term of pregnancy, but no significant differences were found between ages of the infected and non-infected foetuses ( P>0.05). This report indicates that toxoplasmosis may be a common cause of small ruminant abortion and neonatal death in Spain and points out the necessity of using different and complementary techniques to increase the probability of detecting Toxoplasma infection in an aborted foetus.