Epidemiological Investigation And Characterization Of Toxopasma Gondii Infections In Sheep In Turpan,Xinjiang

Toxoplasma gondii(T.gondii) is a zoonotic parasite which can be parasitic on all nucleated cells except red blood cells of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, etc. People infected with T.gondii normally have no obvious symptoms, but people including immune-compromised patients, newborn infants with congenital infection or organ transplant recipients and others, often have severe symptoms or even death. T.gondii infection in animals can cause reproductive failure or miscarriage, causing serious economic losses to the breeding industry. T.gondii can be transmitted to humans either directly or indirectly through meat, eggs, milk and other animal products. Turpan is a tourist attraction in our country, with Uighur minority living there mostly, Mutton is one of the major meats, and its safety is very important to local people, If the undercooked mutton containing Toxoplasma cysts is eaten, people will increase the risk of infection with T. gondii. Sheep Toxoplasma infection was unknown in Turpan, and there was no related report about them. This study aimed to understand the state of sheep Toxoplasma infection in Turpan, evaluate the risk of sheep Toxoplasma infection after eating mutton and provide basic data for prevention and control of T.gondii infection in sheep.A total of 797 blood samples, along with corresponding parts of muscle and hilar lymph nodes, was randomly collected from sheep in the slaughterhouse, farmers in Turpan during 2014 and 2015. Serological and molecular biological methods, respectively, were used for the investigation of sheep toxoplasmosis. Experiment 1: Toxoplasma antibodies were tested in all serum by using indirect hemagglutination test. The results showed that 55 sheep were Toxoplasma antibody positive, Toxoplasma infection rate was 6.9%. Experiment 2:T.gondii B1 gene was tested in all blood and tissue samples using PCR. The results showed that 5 blood samples were T. gondii positive; all muscles and visceral tissues were negative. Experiment 3: Blood samples that were positive in PCR were inoculated into mice, and after three generations mice that had clinical symptoms were killed. Their blood, ascites and visceral samples, respectively, were used for testing pathogens and B1 gene of T.gondii by using Wright strain and PCR. T.gondii tachyzoites were observed in second generation mouse ascites. T.gondii tissue cysts were observed in third-generation mouse viscera, and specific T.gondii target band was observed from these samples. Conclusion: There was T.gondii infection in sheep in Turpan, but the infection rate was not high; After eating boiled mutton, the risk of human infection of Toxoplasma gondii is not large.