Molecular Characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from Bird Hosts

The determination of toxoplasma gondii prevalence in a variety of domestic birds is thought as a good indicator of distribution of tgondii ooccyts in the environment. to verify the potential role of domestic birds in circulating toxoplasmo-sis in iran, the present study was conducted in mazandaran provinces, northern iran. latex agglutination test (la) antibodies were found in 25 of 58 free-ranging chickens {gallus domesticus) and ducks {anas sp.). also, viable t gondii was isolated from 7 of 25 seropositive chickens and ducks by bioassay of their brains and hearts into mice. most of the isolated strains were avirulant to mice. genotyping of tgondii isolates using multiplex pcr for 5 microsatellite markers indicated that 7 isolates were type iii. in this study type ii and iii isolates and mixed genotypes were not found. this study showed that domestic birds could have a potential role in transmitting toxoplasmosis to humans in iran.