Toxoplasmosis in chickens: causes and prevention.

Parasitic diseases:

Toxoplasma gondii

What is toxoplasmosis in chickens?

The genus Toxoplasma was established by Nicolle and Manceaux in the year 1909 to a single-celled organism found in a small rodent (Ctenodactylus gundi) in the north of Africa. Called the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease that affects mammals, including humans, birds, and reptiles, as well as some invertebrates, such as earthworms, which act as intermediate hosts—carrying the parasite without it developing or losing its infectivity—and can be found in various organs, including the central nervous system, muscles, and internal organs.

Hens and chickens are infected, but do not show symptoms and undetected losses in the production. The prevalence is variable, but depends upon the breeding system, as those who are raised to heaven open or loose can ingest a greater amount of oocysts.

The symptoms consist of anorexia, cachexia, pallor, diarrhea, ataxia, tremors, blindness, torticollis, etc., remain the injury more general hepatitis, inflammation of the spleen, pericarditis, myocarditis, intestinal ulcers and congestion of the brain.

The detection of Toxoplasma in animals requires their removal and thorough sanitation of the chicken coop. There is already a long list of birds, both domestic and wild, that have been found to be naturally infected with Toxoplasma gondii, Nicolle and Manceaux, 1909.

Chicken eggs raw act only in very exceptional as transmitters of toxoplasmosis (Jacobs, 1967; Dubey, 1993).

The presence of the parasite happens almost always unnoticed, taking place in favourable conditions. The causative agent is Toxoplasma gondii, which is transmitted through the excretions of infected animals.

It is an extraordinarily ubiquitous parasite (found everywhere); it is capable of infecting any nucleated cell in any warm-blooded vertebrate. Infection is more common in warm, humid regions than in cold, dry ones.

Life cycle of toxoplasmosis

Photo source: Portier B, Dao A, and Ajana F. Toxoplasma and Toxoplasmosis. Encyclopédie Médicale et Chirurgicale (Elsevier SAS Scientific and Medical Publishing, Paris, all rights reserved), Pediatrics, 4-330-A-W, 2000, Up.

Toxoplasma gondii is released from its guests final, the cats (Felidae), particularly the domestic cat, in the development of the sexual cycle of the parasite, but exclusively in some components of the family Felidae, closing the cycle (Jackson and Hutchinson, 1989), and the fecal matter in the form of ooquiste, after you make your sporogony in the intestinal epithelium.

Cats become infected by eating rodents that contain the bradizoitos that form cysts in the tissue.

In faeces, the oocysts, which contain two esporoquistes, mature and become infective. Once expelled, the cysts (technically oocysts) takes 1 to 5 days to sporulate, an essential requirement in order to become infectious, pudiendo permanecer viables en el suelo entre 12 y 18 meses; son resistentes a la mayoría de los factores ambientales y pueden sobrevivir en suelos templados y húmedos durante meses e incluso años (Dubey y col., 1970; Frenkel y col., 1975).

The sick cat removes around a million oocysts for about 15 days and, if not die, since that time it will develop concomitant immunity (that is the status of host immunity to reinfection or superinfection existing). The geographical distribution of this parasite, although cosmopolitan, it differs in accordance with the variations in climate, cultural, and the presence or not of the domestic cat.

Oocysts are primarily spread by cats, but vectors such as earthworms, cockroaches, flies, ants, and coprophagous insects also contribute to this spread (Dubey et al., 1970; Wallace, 1973; Chinchilla and Ruiz, 1976).

In this way, oocysts contaminate the soil, water, and vegetation, as well as feed and bedding for farm animals in areas where cats are present (Faull et al., 1986), and can be ingested by small wild animals such as rodents, by wild or domestic herbivores, by birds, and also by other cats.

The risk of transmission through touching or handling a cat is minimal or nonexistent, as cats are very clean and constantly groom their fur; it is difficult to find traces of feces on the skin of a healthy cat. Any oocysts that may be present on the cat’s skin are not infectious, since they require specific conditions of humidity and oxygenation in the soil to sporulate (Dubey, 1994).

Toxoplasma gondii structure

Literature review:

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MERCK & CO. (1995). Manual Merck de Veterinaria. Rahway, N. J., EE. UU.

BUXADÉ, P. (1987). The laying hen. Ed. Mundiprensa. Madrid.

DORN, P. (1987). Manual of avian pathology. Ed. Acribia. Zaragoza.

HOFSTAD, M. S. (1984). Diseases of Poultry. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

APARICIO GARRIDO, J.; COUR BOVEDA, I.; SAUNAD, V. M. and SOPENA QUESADA, A. (1972). Study on the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis. The infection between animals of consumption.

ZARZUELO, E. (1982). Vade mecum of the pathology, infectious poultry. Ed. Aedos, Barcelona.

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CASTELLÓ, F. and CASTELLÓ, J. A. (1960). The New Art of Raising Chickens. Aedos, Barcelona.

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CABANNES, A.; LUCCHESE, F.; HERNANDEZ, J.C.; PELSE, H.; BIESEL, N.; EYMONNOT, M.; APPRIOU, M. y TRIBOULEY-DURET, J. (1997). Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in sheep, cattle and cats in Gironde department. Bull. Soc. Parasitol.

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HILL, J. L. (1973). Genetics, general and applied. Ed. UTEHA.

CASTELLÓ, J. A., LLEONART, R., FIELD, J. L., OROZCO, F. (1989). Biology of the chicken. Real Escuela de Avicultura.

LLEONART, F., ROCA, E., CALLÍS, M., GURRI, A., PONTES, M. (1991). Poultry Hygiene and Pathology. Royal School of Poultry Science.

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LOHMANN ANIMAL HEALTH (2012)

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