Ocorrência da infecção por Toxoplasma gondii pela detecção de anticorpos em galinhas-d'angola criadas extensivamente no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil* Occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii infection by antibody detection in guinea fowls free-range reared in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii infection by antibody detection in guinea fowls free range reared in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The birds were from six rural properties: four in the city of Marica, one in the city of Silva Jardim and one in the city of Mangaratiba. The sera of 114 adult guinea fowls were examined by the modified agglutination test in order to detect antibodies anti-T. gondii. The sera were examined at 1:16, 1:64, 1:256, 1:1024 and 1: 4096 dilutions. Titers equal or higher than 16 were considered positive. The occurrence of T. gondii infection was 12.3% (14/114) in the guinea fowls from the state of Rio de Janeiro. Guinea fowls seropositive for T. gondii were observed in three (50%) of the six farms investigated in this study. The occurrences of seropositive guinea fowls for T. gondii in each city were: six (30.0%) of the 20 birds examined in Mangaratiba, seven (10.9%) of the 64 birds examined in Silva Jardim and one (3.3%) of the 30 birds examined in Marica. The antibody titers observed were 16 (42.9%), 64 (35.7%) and 256 (21.4%). For the first time in Rio de Janeiro state was observed the infection by T. gondii in guinea fowls. This result indicates environmental contamination and possibility of human and animal infection by ingesting raw or undercooked meat of these birds in the studied area.