Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in milk herds of Polish goats

Toxoplasmosis is an invasive disease of humans and animals caused by the Toxoplasma gondii protozoan belonging to the coccidia family. Felidae are the final host of this parasite but intermediate hosts may be other mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease and fresh goat's milk is considered to be a possible source of infection. The main target of this preliminary study was to estimate the prevalence of toxoplasma infection in the goat population of Poland. The study was performed on 58 milk goats, aged from 2 to 6 years old, maintained in very good conditions. Specific antibodies against T. gondii in sera were detected using the latex agglutination test. Faeces samples of each individual were checked parasitologically to estimate the total worm burden of the herd. The chi(2) test was used to discriminate whether positive serological data correlated with the concurrent invasion of gastro-intestinal parasites. Despite 46,6% of the goats in the investigated herd being serologically positive to T. gondii no clinical signs of the infection were observed. The eggs of gastro-intestnial parasites were found in 17,2% goats, with only a few coccidia's oocysts and single eggs of Strongyloides papillosus. One goat was infected with both coccidia and S. papillosus. There was no correlation between toxoplasma antibodies and presence of eggs in faeces. The high percentage of serologically positive individuals in the tested herd, may suggest that T. gondii infection is quite common in Poland. A lack of clinical sings of infection cannot prove the absence of the parasite in a herd.