Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and direct genotyping using minisequencing in free-range pigs in Burkina Faso.

Abstract Background Swine are a major source of meat for humans. As such, they can play an important role in the epidemiology of human toxoplasmosis. Therefore, we performed an epidemiological study to determine the prevalence and genotypes of Toxoplasma gondii in Burkina Fasan swine. Methods The prevalence of T. gondii infection was evaluated in a 3-month prospective study at the slaughterhouse of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Anti- Toxoplasma IgG titers were determined on meat juices from pig diaphragms using a commercially available ELISA assay. The DNA was extracted from 25 mg of heart biopsies of seropositive animals (IgG ≥ 50% of the control) and the presence of T. gondii DNA was detected using a quantitative PCR assay. Genotyping was performed directly on DNA from PCR-positive biopsies using high-resolution melting and minisequencing analyses of the repeated B1 gene. Results The prevalence of carcasses positive for anti- Toxoplasma IgG was 29% (87/300) with no difference according to sex and age in contrast to the village of origin (p = 0.018). Of the 87 seropositive animals, two were PCR positive (parasitic load at 64 and 128 parasites/mg of heart biopsy). Two new genotypes belonging to Type II and Type III and different from the genotypes previously described using minisequencing were identified. Conclusion Our study provides the first T. gondii seroprevalence data in Burkina Fasan swine. In addition, this direct typing method suggests diversity of the T. gondii genotypes circulating in domestic animals in Burkina Faso. This needs to be confirmed on a wider sampling of subjects.