Naveed Ahmad, Ali Shahzad, Ahmed Haroon, Simsek Sami, Rizwan Muhammad, Kaleem Imdad, Gondal Muhammad Asif, Shabbir Asghar, Pervaiz Fahad, Khan Muhammad Aamir, Nadeem Muhammad Shahid, Afzaal Muhammad Sohail, Umar Sajid
1 Department of Wildlife and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, 75550, Pakistan.
2 Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), 75500, Pakistan.
J Wildl Dis. 2019 Jan;55(1):129-135. doi: 10.7589/2017-09-228. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite of veterinary and human public health importance for which birds act as an intermediate host. No information is available about the epidemiology of T. gondii in wild birds of Pakistan. The present study was designed to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii antibodies in wild birds of District Kasur, Punjab Province, Pakistan. A total of 200 wild birds of 28 species were captured from four tehsils (administrative subdistricts of districts) of the district Kasur and their serum samples screened for the presence of T. gondii antibodies using a latex agglutination test (cut-off value: 1:64). Twenty-five (13%) individual birds and 13 (46%) of the bird species were seropositive for T. gondii antibodies. There were statistical differences in T. gondii prevalence between adults and young (15% and 7%, respectively, P=0.001) and healthy and sick (11% and 50%, respectively, P=0.000) while there were not differences between genders, sites, urbanicity, and tehsils. The present study provides evidence of T. gondii antibodies in wild birds of Pakistan.
刚地弓形虫是一种对兽医和人类公共卫生具有重要意义的原生动物寄生虫，鸟类是其中间宿主。关于巴基斯坦野生鸟类中刚地弓形虫的流行病学尚无相关信息。本研究旨在确定巴基斯坦旁遮普省卡苏尔地区野生鸟类中刚地弓形虫抗体的血清阳性率及相关危险因素。从卡苏尔地区的四个乡（县的行政分区）捕获了共28种200只野生鸟类，并使用乳胶凝集试验（临界值：1:64）对其血清样本进行刚地弓形虫抗体检测。25只（13%）个体鸟类和13种（46%）鸟类对刚地弓形虫抗体呈血清阳性。成年鸟和幼鸟之间（分别为15%和7%，P = 0.001）以及健康鸟和病鸟之间（分别为11%和50%，P = 0.000）的刚地弓形虫感染率存在统计学差异，而性别、地点、城市化程度和乡之间没有差异。本研究为巴基斯坦野生鸟类中存在刚地弓形虫抗体提供了证据。
