Survey on seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pet dogs and cats in Tabriz by Modified Agglutination Test (MAT)

In this study, 100 blood samples were taken from domestic dogs (50 samples) and domestic cats (50 samples) in Tabriz along with their age, gender and breed characteristics, and after separating the serum from the blood samples, serial dilutions from 1.20 to 1.320 was prepared and the suspension of Toxoplasma tachyzoites was tested by MAT according to the protocol. The antibody titer at a dilution equal to or greater than 1.20 was considered as a positive titer, and the criterion for positivity was to observe the formation of a net-like network at the bottom of the screen. The serum prevalence of Toxoplasma was determined to be 12% in domestic dogs of Tabriz and 18% in domestic cats of Tabriz Statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney-U and Kruskal-Wallis methods showed that the level of Toxoplasma infection in the serum of domestic cats and dogs in Tabriz has no significant relationship with the age, gender and breed of the animals. The present study showed that the level of serum contamination of domestic dogs and cats in Tabriz with Toxoplasma antibody is low. However, to prove this issue more accurately, more investigations are needed with more samples as well as the variety of animals targeted for sampling.