MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF TOXOPLASMA GONDII ISOLATES FROM CATS FROM SPAIN.
June 27th, 2008 | by admin |MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF TOXOPLASMA GONDII ISOLATES FROM CATS FROM SPAIN.
Cats are important in the epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii because felids are the only hosts that can excrete environmentally resistant oocysts. Fresh samples of brain from 103 cats with antibodies to T. gondii from Spain were analyzed for T.gondii DNA using nested-PCR and found in 47 (45.5%). Further characterization of DNA from 46 cats using RFLP-PCR at the 3\’ and 5\’ end of the SAG\” locus revealed that 12 (26%)isolates were Type I, and 34 (74%) were Type II with no Type III; 47th sample could not be classified to its genetic type. In addition, T. gondii was also isolated by bioassay in mice from 42 of 103 seropositive cats. This is the first report of characterization of T. gondii from cats in Spain.
Montoya A, Miró G, Mateo M, RamÃrez C, Fuentes I.