Seroprevalance of toxoplasmosis in sheep and goats in the Nigde province of Turkey

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite causing toxoplasmosis. Infection of T. gondii is subsclinical in sheep and goats. The most common clinical sign of toxoplasmosis in sheep and goats is abortion and neonatal death, which causes economic losses (Dubey, 1994). Various serological tests have been used to detect antibodies to T. gondii. These tests are the Sabin-Feldman Dye Test (SFDT), Complement Fixation (CF), Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Test (IFAT), Indirect Hemagglutination (IHA), Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Latex Agglutination Test (LAT). Sabin-Feldman Dye test is considered the most specific and sensitive test for the detection of antibody to T. gondii (Levine, 1985; Dubey and Beattie, 1988; Babur et al., 1996; Kuman and Altintas, 1996). This is an observation made on the seroprevalance of T. gondii infection in sheep and goats in Nigde.