Occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum antibodies and risk factors in domiciliated dogs of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract The presence of antibodies anti-Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum have been described in dogs from virtually all Brazilian states, however in the state of Amazonas, there are few studies on these coccidia. In this study the occurrence of antibodies against T. gondii and N. caninum and risk factors were determined in domiciliated dogs of Manaus, AM. Blood samples were collected from 154 dogs and, during the harvest, a questionnaire was applied with questions related to the animals. The samples were analyzed, for the presence of anti-T. gondii and N. caninum antibodies, by indirect fluorescence antibody test, with cutoff of 16 and 50, respectively. Associations between the variables studied and the presence of antibodies were made by chi-square test, fisher's exact test or G test (p0.05) was observed between the presence of N. caninum antibodies, and the variables studied.

Keywords

• Toxoplasma gondii
• Neospora caninum
• antibodies
• risk factors
• dogs