Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in finishing pigs in a large-scale farm inthe Czech Republic

In January, April and November 1999, slaughter pigs from a large-scale farm in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, were tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibo dies and assayed for T. gondii. The complement fixation test (CFT) revealed antibodies in 4 of 787 pigs (0.5%). The Sabin-Feldman test (SFT) of 259 sl aughter pigs revealed antibodies in 1 pig (0.4%). In the two tests, titres 8 and 4 respectively were considered positive. An isolation biological assa y on laboratory mice was used to rest tissue specimens from the brain and d iaphragm muscles of 97 randomly selected pigs from the April and November t ests. The results of the isolation tests were negative. The results showed that between 1981-1990 and 1999, no significant toxoplasmosis seroprevalenc e changes occurred on this modem large-scale pig farm characterized by a hi gh standard of zoohygiene and veterinary supervision.