Toxoplasma gondii in Chickens ( Gallus domesticus ) from North India

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ORIGINAL PAPER

Toxoplasma gondii in Chickens (Gallus domesticus) from North India Rashmi Thakur1   · Rajnish Sharma1 · Rabinder Singh Aulakh1 · Balbir B. Singh1,2 Received: 26 May 2020 / Accepted: 11 August 2020 © Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences 2020

Abstract Purpose  Toxoplasma gondii, an important food-borne parasite has been reported in a wide range of food animals globally. Poultry meat production is on rise in several developing nations including India. Several studies on status of T. gondii conducted globally had shown substantial risk of this parasite through poultry meat. Such information is lacking in the north India, where poultry meat is a preferred non-vegetarian food over other meats; therefore, this study determined the seroprevalence (based on detection of antibodies) and tissue prevalence (based on detection of DNA) of T. gondii in poultry meat intended for human consumption in north India. Methods  Samples (skeletal muscle and/heart as well as blood) were collected from slaughter poultry intended for human consumption reared in Punjab state (n = 366), Himachal Pradesh (n = 44) state, and Chandigarh union territory (n = 112) in North India. Serum samples were tested using commercially available Chicken T. gondii IgG ELISA kit to determine the serostatus. The DNA of T. gondii was detected by nested PCR. To determine the agreement between ELISA and PCR, Kappa value was estimated. Results  Overall, study reports 2.3% (95% CI 1.3%–4.1%) tissue prevalence and 6.5% (95% CI 4.6%–9.1%) seroprevalence from chickens reared in north India. Backyard poultry had significantly higher proportion of T. gondii (24.4%, 10/41; p