| Objective This study aimed to evaluate the risk of T. gondii transmission to humansafter ingestion of pork that is one of the most prevalent meat products for humanconsumption in China and to determine genotype of T. gondii.Methods A total of416fresh pork samples were purchased from some retail meatstalls from four places in Anhui province, including101from Hefei city,100fromFeidong county,114from Feixi county and101from Changfeng county. ELISA wasconducted to detect the antibodies to T. gondii in tissue fluid and real-time PCR wasperformed to identify the presence of Toxoplasma DNA from each sample.14PCR andELISA positive tissues were bioassayed for isolation of viable parasites in mice. One isolate was obtained. To determine the virulence of this isolate, each of10mice(6-week) was inoculated intraperitoneally with1000tachyzoites. The death of micewere daily observed and recorded after inoculation. To determine genotype of T. gondiiin pork, the isolate and seven positive DNA samples with higher T. gondii concentrationwere genotyped using9PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)markers including SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1and Apico.Results Each sample was detected for T. gondii infection by real-time PCR and tissuefluid ELISA, and positive samples were found in75(18.03%) and42(10.1%)respectively. One isolate (Tgpkfx171) was obtained through bioassay in mice from14samples that demonstrated both PCR and ELISA positive reaction. The virulence of thisisolate was higher and ten infected mice from the isolate died of toxoplasmosis in5–10days after peritoneal inoculation with1000tachyzoites. Among these genotyping resultsby PCR-RFLP, only the isolate and two positive DNA samples were genotyped withcomplete data for all loci. The isolate (Tgpkfx171) belongs to ToxoDB#9(Chinese1).The two positive DNA samples (Tgpkhf2and Tgpkhf3) belong to ToxoDB#213whichis firstly reported. The rest five positive DNA samples could be partially genotyped.Conclusion1. A raletively high prevalence of T. gondii infection (18.03%) in retailpork of Anhui province has been found. Viable T. gondii has been isolated from freshpork, implying that the consumption of pork might pose a risk of human infection withT. gondii.2. The genotyping results of three samples by9PCR-RFLP revealed twogenotypes including ToxoDB#9(Chinese1) and ToxoDB#213which is firstly reported.3. Genotypes of ToxoDB#9(Chinese1) and ToxoDB#213are probably dominantgenotypes in pork in this region. |
PDF Full Text Request