Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in goats by the indirect haemagglutination, immunofluorescence and immunoenzymatic tests in the region of Uberlandia, Brazil

A comparative study of the indirect haemagglutination (IHA), immunofluoresc ence (IFAT) and immunoenzymatic (ELISA) tests was carried out to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in goats. One hundred sevent y-four serum samples were obtained from four goat herds from the region of Uberlandia, State of Minas Gerais. The distribution of the animals, accordi ng to their origin, was as follow: 71 from herd I; 39 from herd II; 37 from herd III; and 27 from herd IV. Serum samples were analyzed by IHA, IFAT an d ELISA, considering the reactivity of the serum samples at dilution greate r than or equal to 1:64 as cut off titer for the three tests. A global sero prevalence of 18.4% was observed, with significantly higher positivity rate in the herd II (66.7%) and older animals (>36 months). A high and signific ant positive correlation was found between the titers obtained by the IHA v ersus IFAT, IHA versus ELISA, and ELISA versus IFAT. Therefore, it can be c oncluded that the three analyzed tests have shown to be highly concordant a nd appropriate for epidemiological surveys of Toxoplasma infection in goats . Although the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in goats is relatively low in this region as compared to other regions of the country, adequate m anagement might be useful and essential to control the infection in the goa t herds.