Authors : Meriem Essayagh, Touria Essayagh, Khalid Khallayoune, Sanah Essayagh and Badreeddine Lmimouni
Abstract: Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Toxoplasmosis diagnosis is critical especially in cattle and sheep flocks with a history of abortion outbreaks. Hence, T. gondii has a major economic impact in rural areas. Prevalence studies of T. gondii infection in livestock animals in Morocco are scarce hence, the objective of the current study is to determine Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in bovines and ovines slaughtered in Northern and Southern Morocco. We collected 357 blood samples from 226 bovines and 131 ovines in Meknes (Northern Morocco) and Settat (Southern Morocco) slaughterhouses. We used a modified version of the direct agglutination test to detect anti T. gondii IgG antibodies in collected sera. Bovine T. gondii seroprevalence values were similar in Northern and Southern Morocco establishing at 7.5 and 8.5%, respectively. In contrast, ovine T. gondii seroprevalence values were 2.43 times higher in Southern than in Northern Morocco with values of 18.0% in Settat versus 7.4% in Meknes. Additional epidemiologic studies are required to characterize the factors associated with this geographic discrepancy in sheep and to evaluate whether this translates into human toxoplasmosis.
Meriem Essayagh, Touria Essayagh, Khalid Khallayoune, Sanah Essayagh and Badreeddine Lmimouni, 2017. Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Ruminants in Morocco. Veterinary Research, 10: 1-5.