Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in dairy goats in Shaanxi Province, Northwestern China

Sera from 751 dairy goats from 9 farms in 6 counties were examined for T. gondii antibodies with an indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test. Antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 106 (14.1%) serum samples, with antibody titres ranging from 1:64 to 1:1024. Seropositive goats were found in all 9 farms and seroprevalences in Guanzhong (16.3%, 75/461) and Saanen (10.7%, 31/290) dairy goats were not statistically significantly different. All the factors (sex, age and location) reported in the present study affected prevalence of infection, and seroprevalence increased with age, suggesting postnatal acquisition of T. gondii infection.The results of the present survey indicate that infection by T. gondii is widely prevalent in dairy goats in Shaanxi province, Northwestern China, and this has implications for prevention and control of toxoplasmosis in this province.Toxoplasma gondii can infect nearly all the warm-blooded animals, including mammals and birds throughout the world [1-4]. Infection in dairy goats not only results in significant reproductive losses, but also represents an important source of human infection due to consumption of infected meat and milk constituting zoonotic transmission [3,5-8]. The seroprevalence of T. gondii in goats has been surveyed in many countries, and these worldwide reports were recently summarized [3]. Viable T. gondii was isolated from goats killed for human consumption [9,10].The People's Republic of China (PRC) is one of the largest producers of dairy goats in the world, and Shaanxi Province is the major dairy goat producer in the PRC. Table 1 summarizes reports of T. gondii infection in goats from the PRC because these papers were published in the Chinese language in local journals and are not easily accessible to foreign scholars. In the present study we report seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in dairy goats in Shaanxi province, Northwestern China for the first time.Blood samples were obtained from 751 dairy goats in Septembe