High prevalence and diversity of < i > Toxoplasma gondii < /i > DNA in feral cat feces from coastal California

by Sophie Zhu, Lauren Camp, Anika Patel, Elizabeth VanWormer, Karen ShapiroToxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite that can cause severe morbidity and mortality in warm-blooded animals, including marine mammals such as sea otters. Free-ranging cats can shed environmentally resistantT.gondii oocysts in their feces, which are transported through rain-driven runoff from land to sea. Despite their large population sizes and ability to contribute to environmental oocyst contamination, there are limited studies onT.gondii oocyst shedding by free-ranging cats. We aimed to determine the frequency and genotypes ofT.gondii oocysts shed by free-ranging domestic cats in central coastal California and evaluate whether genotypes present in feces are similar to those identified in sea otters that died from fatal toxoplasmosis. We utilized a longitudinal field study of four free-ranging cat colonies to assess oocyst shedding prevalence using microscopy and molecular testing with polymerase chain reaction (PCR).T.gondii DNA was confirmed with primers targeting the ITS1 locus and positive samples were genotyped at the B1 locus. While oocysts were not visualized using microscopy (0/404), we detectedT.gondii DNA in 25.9% (94/362) of fecal samples. We genotyped 27 samples at the B1 locus and characterized 13 of these samples at one to three additional loci using multi locus sequence typing (MLST). Parasite DNA detection was significantly higher during the wet season (16.3%, 59/362) compared to t...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research