molecular and histopathological study of toxoplasma gondii infection in aborted fetuses of sheep in east azerbaijan province

Toxoplasmosis is a widespread zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan parasite toxoplasma gondii, which, in addition to significant economic losses in livestock, is also of great health importance due to its transmission to humans. infection with this parasite in sheep may cause premature death and disintegration of the fetus, mummification, abortion, stillbirth and neonatal death. the severity of the infection is related to the stage of pregnancy that ewe is infected, the infection in the early stages of the ewe s pregnancy, has more severe consequences. considering the zoonotic importance of this contamination and since molecular investigation of toxoplasma infection in aborted fetuses of east azerbaijan province has not been done so far, this study aims to investigate the rate of infection in aborted fetuses of sheep in east azerbaijan province using the molecular and histopathological methods. sampling was done from 9.2023 to 1.2024 from 30 villages in 7 cities of east azerbaijan province. in this study, 186 tissue samples including brain, liver and lung from 62 aborted fetuses were examined. after dna extraction, the samples were tested by pcr using specific primers on the b1 gene locus. the results showed 40.3% prevalence of infection in the studied area. statistically, there was no difference in the rate of infection among the sampled cities and villages in the province and among three age groups of embryos. considering the health and economic importance of toxoplasmosis, the results of this study can be useful in developing control and prevention programs for this disease in the studied area.