Serologic and molecular survey of Toxoplasma gondii in Baghdad Province, Iraq.

Background: A prevalent contagious pathogenic parasite that can lead to major health issues is Toxoplasma gondii.

Aim: The present study aimed to detect the parasitic immune response and the existence of genomic DNA in the blood of a T. gondii-positive equine.

Methods: Thirty serum samples from horses suspected of having toxoplasmosis were collected from the Al-Rusafa neighborhood in Baghdad. To quantitatively investigate toxoplasma antibody levels in horse serum, an ELISA was used to evaluate immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels. Conventional (PCR) was used to identify T. gondii DNA.

Results: The blood levels of IgG immunoglobulin in toxoplasma-infected horses differed significantly (p < 0.01) according to sex and age. Toxoplasma gondii-specific forward and reverse primers were generated using NCBI GenBank software. Toxoplasma genes were amplified using standard PCR. The proposed method can be used as a molecular diagnostic tool for detecting and comparing molecules using a ladder.

Conclusion: The findings of this investigation were to ascertain whether the T. gondii genotype (UPRTF2 gene) is present. The size band of 443 bp DNA in the blood of toxoplasma-infected horses was confirmed using serological and molecular assessments. There were no statistically significant differences found by the Chi-square (χ²) test between the age groups or sexes of the seropositive and seronegative horses.