Title
Authors
Abstract
Introduction/Objectives: The present study was conducted to investigate the serological survey of Toxoplasma antibodies in local.horses from three major regions: a neighbourhood of a city in the West (Tiaret), a neighbourhood of a city on the coast (Algiers) and a neighbourhood of a city in the East (M'Sila) of Algeria (North of Africa).
Materials and Methods: A total of 950 serum samples were obtained from clinically healthy horses which consisted of 568 (223 female, 345 male) 2-10 years old and 382 (184 female, 198 male) older than 10 years. All of the horses were tested for antibodies to T. gondii using the Modified Agglutination Test (MAT).
Results: According to MAT results, antibodies to T. gondii were found in 227 (23.89%) of 950 sera with the titers of 1:20 in 56 horses, 1:40 in 21 horse, 1:80 in 63 horses, 1:160 in 47 horses, 1:320 in 11 horse and ≥1:640 in 29 horses. Anti- T. gondii antibodies were found in 156 (27.46%) of 568 horses (2-10 years old) and 71 (18.58%) of 382 horses (older than 10 years old). Sixty nine (16.95%) out of 407 female had anti-toxoplasma antibodies and 158 (29.09%) from 543 males remained positive.
Conclusion: Statistically significant differences in age groups and genders were observed between the seropositive and seronegative horses using the Chi square X (2) test. Other statistical correlation was also reported concerning horse breed.
Keywords: Toxoplasma, horse, antibodies, seroprevalence, MAT, Algeria
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