Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;68(8):884-895.
doi: 10.1111/zph.12878. Epub 2021 Jul 5.

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in wild ruminants in Spain

Sabrina Castro-Scholten  1 , David Cano-Terriza  1 , Saúl Jiménez-Ruiz  1   2 , Sonia Almería  3 , María A Risalde  4   5 , Joaquín Vicente  2 , Pelayo Acevedo  2 , María C Arnal  6 , Ana Balseiro  7   8 , Félix Gómez-Guillamón  9 , Fernando Escribano  10 , María Puig-Ribas  11 , Jitender P Dubey  12 , Ignacio García-Bocanegra  1
Affiliations
Free article

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in wild ruminants in Spain

Sabrina Castro-Scholten et al. Zoonoses Public Health. 2021 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii which infects warm-blooded species worldwide. Humans can be infected through ingestion of tissue cysts from raw or undercooked meat, including game meat. A nationwide large-scale cross-sectional study was conducted to assess exposure to T. gondii in seven wild ruminant species in Spain. A total of 2,040 serum samples from 77 sampling sites randomly distributed in the five bioregions (BRs) covering mainland Spain were tested for antibodies against T. gondii using the modified agglutination test. The overall seroprevalence was 22.0% (449/2,040). Seroprevalence by species in decreasing order was as follows: 39.6% (141/356) in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), 37.1% (138/372) in fallow deer (Dama dama), 16.6% (92/553) in red deer (Cervus elaphus), 14.0% (26/186) in Southern chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica), 11.5% (24/209) in mouflon (Ovis aries musimon), 7.8% (27/346) in Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica) and 5.6% (1/18) in Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia). Seropositivity was detected in 74.0% (57/77) of the sampling sites. Results indicate widespread but not homogeneous exposure to T. gondii in wild ruminant populations in Spain during the last two decades and highlight differences related to animal species and spatial distribution of these species in this country; this implies potential consequences of T. gondii for animal health, conservation and public health.

Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii; Spain; food-borne pathogens; wild ruminants; zoonosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Acevedo, P., Farfán, M. A., Márquez, A. L., Delibes-Mateos, M., Real, R., & Vargas, J. M. (2011). Past, present and future of wild ungulates in relation to changes in land use. Landscape Ecology, 26, 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-010-9538-2
    1. Almería, S., Cabezón, O., Paniagua, J., Cano-Terriza, D., Jiménez-Ruiz, S., Arenas-Montes, A., Dubey, J. P., & García-Bocanegra, I. (2018). Toxoplasma gondii in sympatric domestic and wild ungulates in the Mediterranean ecosystem. Parasitology Research, 117, 665-671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5705-6
    1. Almería, S., Cano-Terriza, D., Prieto, P., Dubey, J. P., Jiménez-Martín, D., Castro-Scholten, S., Paniagua, J., & García-Bocanegra, I. (2021). Seroprevalence and risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infection in wild ungulates that cohabit in a natural park with human-animal interaction in the Mediterranean ecosystem. Zoonoses and Public Health, 68, 263-270. https://doi.org/10.1111/zph.12821
    1. Aubert, D., Ajzenberg, D., Richomme, C., Gilot-Fromont, E., Terrier, M. E., De Gevigney, C., Game, Y., Maillard, D., Gibert, P., Dardé, M. L., & Villena, I. (2010). Molecular and biological characteristics of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from wildlife in France. Veterinary Parasitology, 171, 346-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.03.033
    1. Barroso, P., García-Bocanegra, I., Acevedo, P., Palencia, P., Carro, F., Jiménez-Ruiz, S., Almería, S., Dubey, J. P., Cano-Terriza, D., & Vicente, J. (2020). Long-term determinants of the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in a wild ungulate community. Animals, 10, 2349. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10122349

Publication types