Toxoplasma gondii in small mammals in Romania: the influence of host, season and sampling location.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that infects a large spectrum of warm-blooded animals, including humans. Small rodents and insectivores play an important role in the epidemiology of T. gondii and may serve as a source of infection for both, domestic and wild definitive felid hosts. Factors influencing the occurrence of T. gondii in wild small mammals are unknown, despite the fact that many intermediate host species are identified. We have used small mammals (Rodentia and Lipotyphla) captured over two years in various habitats, both in urbanised and in natural landscapes. We assessed the importance of land-use, season and host ecology on T. gondii infection.

Results

We examined 471 individuals belonging to 20 small mammal species, collected at 63 location

SUBMITTER: Kalmar Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10540334 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature