Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2011 Mar;11(3):231-7. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2009.0238. Epub 2010 Jul 20.
Domestic and wild rodents known as the most abundant and diversified order of mammals have a key role in the ecological food chain and also in the transmission of parasites and pathogens to other animals. While foraging on the ground, they can get infected by Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite, which is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. Therefore, they serve as intermediate hosts of T. gondii and can transmit it to their predators. To assess their role in the maintenance of T. gondii lifecycle in Thailand, we sampled rodents in a range of biotopes representative of the high biodiversity and conducted a serological survey with latex agglutination test to detect anti-T. gondii antibodies. Overall, 21 of 461 (4.6%) rodents had diagnostically significant antibody titers (cutoff, 1:64). Every species with at least 37 individuals captured tested positive, confirming the wide range of potential mammalian hosts of toxoplasmosis. None of the ecological traits (sex, maturity, morphology, season, or habitat) was found significant to predict the susceptibility to T. gondii both univariately and in a multivariate analysis. However, high prevalences were reported in either forested or anthropized areas. This survey constitutes the first confirmed serological investigation of T. gondii in rodents in Thailand. The rarity of both domestic and wild felids in Thailand emphasizes the importance of rodents in maintaining T. gondii, and questions the involvement of other carnivores in the life cycle.
作为哺乳动物中最丰富和最多样化的目，家鼠和野鼠在生态食物链中起着关键作用，它们还在寄生虫和病原体向其他动物的传播中发挥作用。当它们在地面觅食时，可能会感染刚地弓形虫，这是一种原生动物寄生虫，也是弓形体病的病原体。因此，它们是刚地弓形虫的中间宿主，可以将其传播给它们的捕食者。为了评估它们在维持泰国刚地弓形虫生命周期中的作用，我们在一系列具有高生物多样性的生境中采集了啮齿动物样本，并进行了乳胶凝集试验血清学调查，以检测抗刚地弓形虫抗体。总的来说，在 461 只啮齿动物中有 21 只（4.6%）具有诊断意义的抗体滴度（临界值为 1:64）。每一种至少有 37 只个体被捕的物种都呈阳性，这证实了广泛的潜在的哺乳动物宿主都可能感染弓形体病。无论是在单变量还是多变量分析中，没有任何生态特征（性别、成熟度、形态、季节或栖息地）被发现与对刚地弓形虫的易感性显著相关。然而，在森林或人为化地区都报告了高流行率。这项调查是泰国首次对刚地弓形虫在啮齿动物中的血清学调查。在泰国，家猫和野猫都很少见，这强调了啮齿动物在维持刚地弓形虫方面的重要性，并质疑其他肉食动物是否参与了生命周期。
