Toxoplasma Infection in Farm Animals: A Seroepidemiological Survey in Fars Province, South of Iran

Background: toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide parasite which infects animals and human. infections with this zoonotic parasite are acquired mostly by consumption of undercooked or raw meat, which contains tissue cysts.objectives: the current study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasma infection in farm animals in southern iran.materials and methods: sera were obtained from 346 farm animals including 80 cows, 33 dogs, 35 horses, 95 sheep, 90 goats, 9 turkeys and 4 geese and evaluated by modified agglutination test (mat) to detect anti-toxoplasma antibodies.results: anti-toxoplasma antibodies were detected in sera of 121 out of 346 (34.9%) animals. the highest rate of infection (55%) was found in the cattle, followed by dogs (51.5%), horses (40%), sheep (29.5%), goats (18.8%) and turkeys (11.1%). no antibody was detected in any sera of 4 geese. most of animals (86%) had antibody titer of 1:20. males consisted 34.3% and females 40% of seropositive animals but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). correlation between age of animals and toxoplasma infection was also insignificant (p > 0.05).conclusions: high seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis observed in this region indicates that farm animals may play a major role in transmitting the infection to human through consumption of undercooked meats.