Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kazan Federal University, 18 Kremlyovskaya St, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation, 420008.
Joint Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 12;11(1):22184. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01582-y.
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite with a wide host range that includes humans, domestic animals and wild animals. Small mammals serve as intermediate hosts for T. gondii and may contribute to the persistence of this parasite in the environment. Mass mortality in wild animals and deaths in rare endemic species make the study of this parasite of growing importance. In this study, T. gondii infection prevalence was evaluated in brain tissues from 474 small mammals captured at 26 trapping points in urban and rural areas of Tatarstan, Russian Federation. Nested PCR was used to detect the T. gondii B1 gene in the samples. Overall, 40/474 samples (8.44%) showed B1 gene positivity. T. gondii infection among the wild small mammals trapped in the rural area was significantly higher as a whole than that of the urban area as a whole. Multivariate logistical regression analysis also showed that the trapping area (rural or urban) significantly contributed to T. gondii positivity. Vegetation in the trapping points, small mammal species, sex, age or distance from the trapping points to the nearest human settlements did not significantly affect T. gondii positivity in the sampled small mammals.
刚地弓形虫是一种广泛宿主的动物源性寄生虫，包括人类、家畜和野生动物。小型哺乳动物是刚地弓形虫的中间宿主，可能有助于这种寄生虫在环境中的持续存在。野生动物的大量死亡和罕见地方病物种的死亡使得对这种寄生虫的研究变得越来越重要。在这项研究中，评估了从俄罗斯联邦鞑靼斯坦的 26 个诱捕点捕获的 474 只小型哺乳动物的脑组织中刚地弓形虫的感染流行率。巢式 PCR 用于检测样品中的刚地弓形虫 B1 基因。总体而言，40/474 个样本（8.44%）显示 B1 基因阳性。在农村地区捕获的野生小型哺乳动物的刚地弓形虫感染率明显高于城市地区。多变量逻辑回归分析还表明，诱捕区（农村或城市）对刚地弓形虫阳性率有显著影响。诱捕点的植被、小型哺乳动物的种类、性别、年龄或与最近的人类住区的距离均未显著影响采样的小型哺乳动物中的刚地弓形虫阳性率。
