Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in ruminants by using latex agglutination test (LAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in Assiut governorate.

Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonotic parasitic disease world-wide. However, data on Toxoplasma gondii infection in ruminants are scarce in Assiut governorate, Egypt. Thus we conducted a survey on the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection by using latex agglutination test (LAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A total of 274 sera were tested (56 imported camels, 56 cattle, 55 buffaloes, 50 sheep and 57 goats) in the period from November 2014 - February 2016. The overall seroprevalence in ruminants was (35.8%) by LAT and (83.6%) by ELISA. The highest rate of T. gondii infection by LAT was found in goats (47.4%) followed by sheep (44%), camels (35.7%), cattle (32.1%) and buffaloes (20%). The highest rate of T. gondii infection by ELISA was recorded in camels (96.4%) followed by goats (87.7%), sheep (86%), buffaloes (74.5%) and cattle (73.2%). Antibody titres to T. gondii in positive sera by LAT ranged from 1:2 to 1:64 in imported camels, 1:2 to 1:32 in cattle, 1:2 to 1:8 in buffaloes, from 1:4 to 1:64 in sheep and from 1:2 to 1:16 in goats. The differences of seroprevalence between different species were significant by LAT and highly significant by ELISA. Our results suggest that the T. gondii parasite is widely spread due to high exposure to infective cat faeces.