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ABSTRACT

Protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is widely prevalent food-borne zoonotic parasite in most parts of the
world and cysts present in sheep, goat and pigs is an important animal health as well as food safety concern.We estimated sero-prevalence of T. gondii from 900 slaughter animals comprising of 144 sheep, 306 goats and 450 pigs presented for slaughter at small slaughter houses/shops located in Ludhiana, Punjab and a municipal corporation abattoir located in Chandigarh. The serum samples were screened for the presence of T. gondii anti-bodies using commercially available indirect ELISA Kit. The indirect ELISA revealed an overall seroprevalence of 22.91% (95% CI 16.3-30.7%) in sheep, 11.43% (95% CI 8.1-15.5%) in goats and 34.0% (95% CI 29.6-38.6%) in the slaughter pigs. High seroprevalence in slaughter sheep, goats and pigs indicated circulation of Toxoplasma in sheep, goat and pig populations and could be an important animal health and food safety issue in Punjab.

Keywords: ELISA, goats, India, pigs, Punjab, sero-prevalence, sheep, Toxoplasma gondii.