Estudio de Toxoplasma gondii en suero sanguíneo de ganado bovino en tres centros de faenamiento de la provincia del Azuay mediante kit Elisa

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis with a wide worldwide distribution, caused by T. gondii. In Ecuador there is little information on the seroprevalence of T. gondii in cattle, while in other countries they report values between 10% to 40% in cattle and 30% to 90% in humans. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of seropositive cattle to T. gondii prior to the sacrifice in the slaughter centers of the province of Azuay using the ELISA test and identifying if age, sex and origin are risk factors associated with the presence of T. gondii. We used 147 samples of blood serum, which were taken in the beds of Azuay certified by AGROCALIDAD, 76 from Gualaceo, 51 from Paute and 20 from Girón. The samples were processed in the laboratory for their analysis using the IDEXX Toxotest kit - ELISA test which determined there are 32.7% of seropositive animals (48/147) and 67.3% negative (99/147). When we applied the Chi-square test, there were not found significant values of variables studied (p>0.05), but a significant association was considered to the variable sex (OR=1.252) as a possible risk factor for the presence of the disease, being the males more prone to contracting the infection.