Toxoplasmosis in sheep. Influence of various factors on the antibody contents.

The contents of toxoplasma antibodies were estimated by a micro-modification of the dye test for up to 3 years after the initial stage of infection both in ewes which had aborted and in ewes with normal pregnancies. During the first 2 years the titres in ewes which had aborted were significantly higher than in ewes with normal pregnancies. The investigation indicated that dye test titres ≥ 1/512 usually occur during the first stage of infection, and are mainly found in ewes with clinical toxoplasmosis. The dye test titres in lambs due to antibodies transferred with the colostrum were up to 4 twofold dilutions higher than in their dams during the first 2 days after birth. Later the titres declined, and at the age of about 2 months only 3 of 29 lambs had higher titres than their dams. After the age of about 3 months maternally derived antibodies were not detected. The contents of toxoplasma antibodies in sheep with listeric encephalitis were nearly the same as found by a serological survey of the local sheep population. The examination indicated that the dye test titres in sheep are little influenced by conditions that may affect the defence mechanism. Sheep with haemoglobin type B had significantly higher dye test titres than sheep with the haemoglobin types A and AB when examined less than about 6 months after they had acquired the infection. No association was found between the susceptibility to toxoplasma infection and the haemoglobin type. kw|Keywords|k]toxoplasma infection; k]antibody formation; k]sheep {fn1|This work was supported by grants from The Norwegian Research Council for Science and for the Humanities.}