2016/06/19 by Solange María Gennari, Cláudia Niemeyer, Herbert Sousa Soares +5 · 1 citation
Immunology and Microbiology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies #Coccidia and coccidiosis research #Rabies epidemiology and control #Archipelago #Seroprevalence #Biology #Toxoplasma gondii #Zoology #Charadrius #Direct agglutination test #Toxoplasmosis #Veterinary medicine #Ecology #Virology #Antibody #Serology #Habitat #Immunology
paper · doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2016.06.016
openalex publication_date 2016/06/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Toxoplasma gondii is a coccidian parasite that infects almost all warm-blooded animals, including birds. Abrolhos is an archipelago of five islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean, 56 nautical kilometers from the south coast of the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. Part of this archipelago is a National Marine Park, which is a conservation area protected by the Brazilian government. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of T. gondii antibodies in sera of seabird's species Sula spp. and Phaeton spp. from breeding colonies located in the Islands of Santa Bárbara and Redonda, Abrolhos's archipelago. Sera were tested by modified agglutination test, first screened at 1:5 dilution (cut-off point) and the positive samples were titrated at a two-fold serial dilution. Serum samples were obtained from 69 birds of four species: Sula dactylatra (23 birds), Sula leucogaster (19 birds), Phaeton aethereus (25 birds) and Phaeton lepturus (2 birds). Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 24 (34.8%) of 69 seabirds with titers that ranged from 5 to 640. Occurrence value in S. dactylatra was 34.8% (8/23), in S. leucogaster was 47.4% (9/19), in P. aethereus was 28% (7/25) and the 2 P. lepturus were negative. This is the first description of T. gondii antibodies in free ranging seabirds of the orders Suliformes and Phaethontiformes.