Toxoplasma gondii serosurvey in Golden Jackals from Golestan province, Iran

Toxoplasma gondii as an apicomplexan zoonotic parasite is able to infect humans and almost all other warm-blooded animals. Wild and domestic felids are the main definitive hosts. Also, canids such as dogs and jackals have been introduced as mechanical vectors since T. gondii oocysts can pass their intestinal tract and spread by feces in environment. Toxoplasmosis is a common zoonotic disease in Iran especially in North humid regions of Iran with 70% prevalence. The goal of this study was to evaluate the T. gondii antibody in jackals from Golestan province in East-North of Iran in order to analyze wild canids’ role in T.gondii’s life cycle. Blood samples obtained from 40 killed golden jackals. After separation of serum samples, the presence of T.gondii antibody was evaluated by ELIZA kit. T.gondii antibody has been detected in 31 out of 40 (77.5%) serum samples. Most positive jackals’ sera belong to older jackals. The T. gondii seropositivity was the same in male and female jackals.The relatively high prevalence of T. gondii in the samples of golden jackals gives valuable insight to T. gondii epidemiology and is useful for managing practical prevention and control programs.