High prevalence of unusual genotypes of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pork meat samples from Erechim, Southern Brazil

Rubens Belfort-Neto, Veronique Nussenblatt, Luiz Rizzo, Cristina Muccioli, Claudio Silveira, Robert Nussenblatt, Assis Khan, L. David Sibley, Rubens Belfort

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is the most common cause of infectious uveitis in Brazil, with a higher frequency in the South of the country. We have collected samples from porcine tongue and diaphragm obtained in both large and small abattoirs and used molecular biological technique to determine the prevalence of infection and RFLP analysis to type the parasites. Seventeen out of 50 (34%) samples from the diaphragm and 33 out of 50 (66%) samples from the tongue demonstrated a positive PCR reaction for T. gondii and restriction analysis of four of the positive samples revealed that all had a type I genotype at SAG2. However, when other unlinked loci were analyzed, these strains had a type III genotype at markers BTUB, SAG3, and GRA6. One of the strains (8T) had a type II allele at SAG3, indicating it has a combination of alleles normally seen in the clonal lineages. Our sampling indicates a high prevalence of infection and suggests that unusual genotypes of T. gondii are found in Brazil even among domesticated pigs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)111-114
Number of pages4
JournalAnais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias
Volume79
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Genotypes
  • Ocular toxoplasmosis
  • Toxoplasma gondii

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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