Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum infections in synanthropic rodents from Argentina

FITTE, BRUNO; BERNSTEIN, MARIANA; VENTURINI, MARÍA CECILIA; PARDINI, LAIS; ROBLES, MARÍA DEL ROSARIO; UNZAGA, JUAN MANUEL; DELLARUPE, ANDREA; CAMPERO, LUCÍA MARÍA; MORÉ, GASTÓN

REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE PARASITOLOGIA VETERINáRIA

BRAZILIAN COLL VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY

Año: 2019 vol. 28 p. 113 - 118

0103-846X

Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum are closely related coccidian parasites (phylum Apicomplexa). This is the firststudy from urban synanthropic rodent species that involved serological and molecular diagnosis of T. gondii and N. caninuminfection, and genotyping of T. gondii in Argentina. A total of 127 rodent samples were trap captured: Mus musculus (n = 78),Rattus norvegicus (n = 26) and Rattus rattus (n = 23). Antibodies against T. gondii and N. caninum were detected by IFAT in32.8% (40/122) and 0.8% (1/122) of rodent samples, respectively, demonstrating contact with these protozoans. Additionally,T. gondii DNA was detected in 3.3% (4/123) of rodent central nervous system samples and 2 samples were genotyped bymultilocus nPCR-RFLP. Neospora caninum DNA was not detected by PCR. The 2 genotyped samples were type III allelefor all markers except for SAG-1 (type I for Rat1Arg and type II/III for Rat2Arg) and were identified as #48 and #2 (likely)according to the allele combinations reported on Toxo DB (Toxo-DB). The results of the present study revealed a widedistribution of T. gondii and less for N. caninum, in synanthropic rats and mice in the studied area.