Risk factors related to Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in indoor-housed Dutch dairy goats

Toxoplasma gondii can cause disease in goats, but also has impact on human health through food-borne transmission. Our aims were to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in indoor-housed Dutch dairy goats and to identify the risk factors related to T. gondii seroprevalence. Fifty-two out of ninety approached farmers with indoor-kept goats (58%) participated by answering a standardized questionnaire and contributing 32 goat blood samples each. Serum samples were tested for T. gondii SAG1 antibodies by ELISA and results showed that the frequency distribution of the log10-transforme... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Deng, Huifang
Dam-Deisz, Cecile
Luttikholt, Saskia
Maas, Miriam
Nielen, Mirjam
Swart, Arno
Vellema, Piet
van der Giessen, Joke
Opsteegh, Marieke
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
Schlagwörter: Toxoplasmosis / Seroprevalence / Epidemiology / Serology / Binary mixture analysis / Taverne
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27068598
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/345428

Toxoplasma gondii can cause disease in goats, but also has impact on human health through food-borne transmission. Our aims were to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in indoor-housed Dutch dairy goats and to identify the risk factors related to T. gondii seroprevalence. Fifty-two out of ninety approached farmers with indoor-kept goats (58%) participated by answering a standardized questionnaire and contributing 32 goat blood samples each. Serum samples were tested for T. gondii SAG1 antibodies by ELISA and results showed that the frequency distribution of the log10-transformed OD-values fitted well with a binary mixture of a shifted gamma and a shifted reflected gamma distribution. The overall animal seroprevalence was 13.3% (95% CI: 11.7-14.9%), and at least one seropositive animal was found on 61.5% (95% CI: 48.3-74.7%) of the farms. To evaluate potential risk factors on herd level, three modeling strategies (Poisson, negative binomial and zero-inflated) were compared. The negative binomial model fitted the data best with the number of cats (1-4 cats: IR: 2.6, 95% CI: 1.1-6.5; >=5 cats: IR: 14.2, 95% CI: 3.9-51.1) and mean animal age (IR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2.1) related to herd positivity. In conclusion, the ELISA test was 100% sensitive and specific based on binary mixture analysis. T. gondii infection is prevalent in indoor housed Dutch dairy goats but at a lower overall animal level seroprevalence than outdoor farmed goats in other European countries, and cat exposure is an important risk factor.