Korean J Parasitol.  2010 Sep;48(3):267-270. 10.3347/kjp.2010.48.3.267.

Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Stray and Household Cats in Regions of Seoul, Korea

• Lee SE
• Kim JY
• Kim YA
• Cho SH
• Ahn HJ
• Woo HM
• Lee WJ
• Nam HW

• KMID: 1097493
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2010.48.3.267

Abstract

The principal objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in household and stray cats in Seoul, Republic of Korea. We collected blood samples from 72 stray and 80 household cats, and all samples were examined by ELISA and nested PCR. The overall positive rates of Toxoplasma gondii in stray cats were 38.9% (28/72), with 15.3% (11/72) in ELISA and 30.6% (22/72) in PCR. The positive rate in male stray cats was slightly higher than that of female stray cats. The highest positive rate of T. gondii infection was noted in Gangnam and Songpa populations in ELISA and in Gwangjin population in PCR. In household cats, however, we could not detect any specific antibodies or DNA for T. gondii. In conclusion, we recognized that the infection rate of toxoplasmosis in stray cats in Seoul was considerably high but household cats were free from infection.

Keyword

Toxoplasma gondii; cat; ELISA; PCR

MeSH Terms

Animals
Animals, Domestic/parasitology
Antibodies, Protozoan/blood
Cat Diseases/*epidemiology/immunology/parasitology
Cats
Female
Male
Prevalence
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Toxoplasma/genetics/immunology/*isolation & purification
Toxoplasmosis, Animal/*epidemiology/immunology/parasitology