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In Romania, exposure to Toxoplasma gondii occurs twice as often in swine raised for familial consumption as in hunted wild boar, but occurs rarely, if ever, among fattening pigs raised in confinement

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Abstract

A wide range of swine husbandry practices prevail in Romania: pork for human consumption is derived from hunting wild boar, from household rearing of small numbers of backyard pigs, and from indoor, industrial production of swine raised in confinement indoors. Romania thus represents an instructive place for evaluating the influence of animal management on the exposure risk of the zoonotic parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. The fact that many Romanians eat uncooked or undercooked pork, especially when raised for household consumption, elevates the public health imperative to understand these risks. The aim of the study, therefore, was to evaluate the seroprevalence of T. gondii in pigs and wild boars from Romania. During 2008–2010, we collected 3,595 serum samples from pigs (fattening pigs, sows, backyard pigs) and 150 serum samples from wild boars. The sera were assayed by immunofluorescence antibody test (cutoff, 1:32) for antibodies against T. gondii. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 23.1 % (829/3,595) in pigs and 16 % (24/150) in wild boars. The seroprevalence was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in backyard pigs (30.5 %; 783/2,564) than in sows (12.4 %; 46/371) or fattening pigs (none of the sera was positive). The management system (indoor pigs versus backyard pigs) represented the most important factor in the epidemiology of T. gondii infection. The proximity of backyard pigs to the definitive host of this parasite (cats), as well as their access to contaminated meat products, elevated their exposure risk well above that of pigs raised in confinement, and even above that of wild boars inhabiting sylvatic environments.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation of Romania through the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation from Romania, Grant PNII PC 51-013/2007.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 3-5 Mănăştur Street, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Anamaria Ioana Paştiu, Adriana Györke, Viorica Mircean & Vasile Cozma

  2. Université Paris-Est, École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, UMR BIPAR ANSES ENVA UPEC USC INRA, Maisons-Alfort, 94704, France

    Radu Blaga

  3. Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Benjamin Martin Rosenthal

Authors
  1. Anamaria Ioana Paştiu
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  2. Adriana Györke
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  3. Radu Blaga
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  4. Viorica Mircean
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  5. Benjamin Martin Rosenthal
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  6. Vasile Cozma
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vasile Cozma.

Additional information

Anamaria Ioana Paştiu and Adriana Györke contributed equally to the work.

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Paştiu, A.I., Györke, A., Blaga, R. et al. In Romania, exposure to Toxoplasma gondii occurs twice as often in swine raised for familial consumption as in hunted wild boar, but occurs rarely, if ever, among fattening pigs raised in confinement. Parasitol Res 112, 2403–2407 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3353-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3353-z

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