Systematic Review and Modelling of Age-Dependent Prevalence of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> in Livestock, Wildlife and Felids in Europe
Filip Dámek,
Arno Swart,
Helga Waap,
Pikka Jokelainen,
Delphine Le Roux,
Gunita Deksne,
Huifang Deng,
Gereon Schares,
Anna Lundén,
Gema Álvarez-García,
Martha Betson,
Rebecca K. Davidson,
Adriana Györke,
Daniela Antolová,
Zuzana Hurníková,
Henk J. Wisselink,
Jacek Sroka,
Joke W. B. van der Giessen,
Radu Blaga,
Marieke Opsteegh
Affiliations
Filip Dámek
Anses, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, BIPAR, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Arno Swart
Centre for Infectious Disease Control—Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Helga Waap
Laboratório de Parasitologia, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal
Anses, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, BIPAR, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Gunita Deksne
Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, LV-1076 Riga, Latvia
Huifang Deng
Centre for Infectious Disease Control—Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Gereon Schares
Institute of Epidemiology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, 17493 Greifswald, Germany
Anna Lundén
Department of Microbiology, National Veterinary Institute, 75189 Uppsala, Sweden
Gema Álvarez-García
SALUVET, Animal Health Department, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Martha Betson
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK
Rebecca K. Davidson
Food Safety and Animal Health, Norwegian Veterinary Institute, 9016 Tromsø, Norway
Adriana Györke
Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Daniela Antolová
Institute of Parasitology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Zuzana Hurníková
Institute of Parasitology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Henk J. Wisselink
Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands
Jacek Sroka
Department of Parasitology and Invasive Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute, 24-100 Pulawy, Poland
Joke W. B. van der Giessen
Centre for Infectious Disease Control—Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Radu Blaga
Anses, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, BIPAR, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
Marieke Opsteegh
Centre for Infectious Disease Control—Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite of importance to both human and animal health. The parasite has various transmission routes, and the meat of infected animals appears to be a major source of human infections in Europe. We aimed to estimate T. gondii prevalence in a selection of animal host species. A systematic literature review resulting in 226 eligible publications was carried out, and serological data were analyzed using an age-dependent Bayesian hierarchical model to obtain estimates for the regional T. gondii seroprevalence in livestock, wildlife, and felids. Prevalence estimates varied between species, regions, indoor/outdoor rearing, and types of detection methods applied. The lowest estimated seroprevalence was observed for indoor-kept lagomorphs at 4.8% (95% CI: 1.8–7.5%) and the highest for outdoor-kept sheep at 63.3% (95% CI: 53.0–79.3%). Overall, T. gondii seroprevalence estimates were highest within Eastern Europe, whilst being lowest in Northern Europe. Prevalence data based on direct detection methods were scarce and were not modelled but rather directly summarized by species. The outcomes of the meta-analysis can be used to extrapolate data to areas with a lack of data and provide valuable inputs for future source attribution approaches aiming to estimate the relative contribution of different sources of T. gondii human infection.
