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Ca¤¢n-Franco, W.A.; Arua£jo, F.A.P.; L¢pez-Orozco, N.; Jardim, M.M.A.; Keid, L.B.; Dalla-Rosa, C.; Cabral, A.D.; Pena, H.F.J.; Gennari, S.M.
Toxoplasma gondii in free-ranging wild small felids from Brazil: Molecular detection and genotypic characterization
2013  Veterinary Parasitology (197): 462-469

Brazil harbors the largest number of wild Neotropical felid species, with ten of the twelve species recorded in the American continent. Although these animals are considered to be definitive hosts for _Toxoplasma gondii_, there are few descriptions of the parasite in these species. Here, we performed a molecular detection of T. gondii by amplification of the markerITS-1 from tissue samples obtained from 90 free-ranging wild small Neotropical felids from Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. Of the sampled animals, 34.4% (n = 31) were positive including the species _Puma yagouaroundi_ - jaguarondi (9/22), _Leopardus geoffroyi_ - Geoffroy'scat (6/22), _Leopardus tigrinus_ - oncilla (8/28), _Leopardus wiedii _- margay (6/10), _Leopardus pardalis_ - ocelot (1/1) and _Leopardus colocolo_ - Pampas cat (1/7). Toxoplasma DNA was detected with a frequency of 14.6% (63/433) in primary samples of tongue (16/56), brain(8/43), skeletal muscle (15/83), heart (7/63), diaphragm (3/56), vitreous humor (2/44), eye muscle (6/44) and eyeball (6/44). Multilocus PCR-RFLP genotyping of eleven small Neotropical felids using the molecular markers SAG1, 53SAG2, alt. SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8,c29-2, L358, PK1, Apico and CS3 allowed the partial characterization of eight genotypes. We fully characterized two new genotypes that have not been described previously in Brazil (Lw#31Tn from_ L. wiedii _and Py#21Sm from _P. yagouaroundi_) and one genotype Py#56Brfrom _P. yagouaroundi_ that has been described previously in isolates from cats, dogs and capybaras from SÆo Paulo state. This study constitutes the first detection and genotypic characterization of _T. gondii_ in free-ranging felids in Brazil, demonstrating the occurrence of the parasite in wild populations and suggesting its potential transmissibility to humans and other domestic and wild animals.

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