Epidemiological Investigation Of Toxoplasma Gondii Infection In Scaled Pig Farms In Parts Of Shanxi Province

Toxoplasma gondii(T.gondii)is an obligate intracellular parasite with worldwide distribution,which can cause serious toxoplasmosis in man and warm-blooded animals.The final host of T.gondii is only feline,while the intermediate host consists of almost all warm blooded animals,such as humans and pigs.In livestock production,pigs are the intermediate hosts with high infection rate.Sows infected with T.gondii will cause abortion,and there will be stillbirths or weak fetusesSow abortions and stillbirths occurred frequently in a swine farm in Yuncheng,Shanxi province.In this study,the clinical diagnosis and detection of T.gondii B1 gene were performed to figure out the causal agent.Meanwhile,the 1HA method was used to analyze the prevalence of T.gondii in large scale pig farms in Yuncheng,Shuozhou and Luliang,Shanxi provinceThe clinical diagnostic results were in accordance with the clinical symptoms and lesions of toxoplasmosis.The T.gondii B1 gene was detected from the collected samples.The seropositivity rates of T gondii in scaled pig farms in Shuozhou,Luliang and Yuncheng were 23.46%,39.85%and 17.12%,respectively.This test confirms the presence of T.gondii infection in the swine farm and will provide important clues for developing effective prevention and control strategies against T.gondii.Also,The results enrich the epidemiological data of T.gondii in Shanxi province.