| Autor: |
Sá SG; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Ribeiro-Andrade M; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Silva LTR; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Souza OL Neto; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Lima DCV; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Pedrosa CM; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Bezerra MJG; Superintendência do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste - SUDENE, Recife, PE, Brasil., Mota RA; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - UFRPE, Recife, PE, Brasil. |
| Abstrakt: |
This study aimed to investigate the frequency of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in serum from 629 chickens on 39 family farms in seven municipalities in the semiarid region, Pernambuco, Brazil, and to identify risk factors associated with T. gondii infection. The risk factors were studied in 421 samples from 29 farms. Anti-T. gondii antibodies were investigated by indirect fluorescent antibody test with a 1:16 cutoff. The frequency of positive chickens was 27.9% (176/629) and 94.8% of the farms studied had chickens infected by T. gondii. Multivariate analysis showed variables significantly associated with anti-T. gondii antibodies in serum: slaughter of animals on the farm, reproductive disorders in sheep, consumption of fetal adnexa and placentas by chickens, presence of sheep in the property and birth of sheep the property. The results suggest that there is a complex relationship between general management practices for different animal species raised on the same farm and the prevalence of T. gondii infection in chickens. In addition, the results draw attention to the risk of human infection by T. gondii via consumption of infected chicken meat, because the farming conditions and the low human development indices observed in the region studied result in inappropriate meat preparation practices. |
