National serological baseline survey of Toxoplasma gondii in sheep and lamb meat

Summary

​Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most common parasitic infections of human and other warm- blooded animals. One infection route for humans is through ingestion of infected animal tissue. International data on the sero-prevalence of livestock animals indicates that lambs and sheep may pose a significant risk to humans, however no up-to-date data for Australia exists. 
A national baseline survey was undertaken to estimate the sero-prevalence of T. gondii in lambs and sheep. Blood and tongue samples were collected at abattoirs. The national estimate of sero- prevalence for lambs is 16.4% (approx 95% CI: 9.8% to 22.9%) and 31.9% for sheep (approx 95% CI: 26.5% to 37.3%). Tongue samples are stored at -80ºC so any tissues cysts can be genotyped at a later date. 

In the future, this updated national sero-prevalence information can be used to inform risk assessments undertaken for T. gondii, while any genotyping data will provide information about the likelihood of lamb and sheep meat being attributed a proportion of overall risk. ​