Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma Gondii Infection in Cattle, Sheep and Goats in Katsina, State Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Toxoplasmosis is still an important health problem in developing nations including Nigeria. Studies were taken in order to assess the Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in Cattle, Sheep and goats in Katsina State in order to provide valuable baseline information that will facilitate the design of an effective control strategy. A farmhouse based, cross-sectional seroprevalence study was carried out to establish the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in Cattle, Sheep and goats in Katsina State from August 2019 to July 2020 based on animal’ owners willingness. Laboratory techniques employed were separation of sera by centrifugation at 3200 RPM for 10 minutes and then the use of Rapid Diagnostic Toxo IgG Test kits for the detection of anti T. gondii antibodies IgG. Questionnaire survey was done in farmhouses visited to determine risk factors associated with T. gondii infection. Data was analysed using chi square, odds ratio, risk ratio and bivariate analysis for the risk factors. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in the domestic ruminants was found to be 17.57%. Strong associations were found amongst the sex, age, drinking habits of the animals, presence of cats on farms and house types (P˂0.05). The prevalence of female animals (17.97%) to the males (16.49%) was significant (P˂0.05) as well as the younger ruminants of less than one-year-old (37.37%) recording higher infection than the older ones (7.45%) (P˂0.05). Toxoplasmosis seropositivity was higher in the ruminants in the wet season than in the dry season, which showed significant difference (P˂0.05) in infection between the seasons. Based on the regions/zones, there was significant difference (P˂0.05) for seropositivity in the animals. From this result, it can be concluded that there was prevalence of T. gondii infection in the domestic ruminants in all the farmhouses visited, this warns on the public health safety problems. There is therefore the urgent need for the implementation of biosecurity measures, public awareness campaign for workers at farmhouses in Katsina State.