First report of Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in peafowls in Yunnan Province, Southwestern China

Tian, Yi-Ming; Dai, Fei-Yan; Huang, Si-Yang; Deng, Zu-Hong; Duan, Gang; Zhou, Dong-Hui; Yang, Jian-Fa; Weng, Ya-Biao; Zhu, Xing-Quan; Zou, Feng-Cai

The association between risk factors and T. gondii seropositivity was analyzed. Age is not a crucial factor for T. gondii infection in the peafowl groups in this study because no significant difference in T. gondii seroprevalence was observed between the adolescent peafowls (6.74%) and the adult peafowls (6.67%) (OR = 0.849, 95% CI = 0.213-3.380, P = 0.817). Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in T. gondii seroprevalence according to geographical region, in that peafowls originating from Kunming had significantly higher seropositivity (31.08% of 74 samples) compared to the birds from Banna (5.91% of 203) (OR = 10.956, 95% CI = 1.632-73.545, P = 0.014), suggesting that region is a main risk factor associated with T. gondii seropositivity. Generally, warm and humid climates are favorable for the survival of T. gondii oocysts and the transmission of the parasite [2] . As previously described, there is no marked difference in the climate of the two surveyed regions. However, it should be noted that all peafowls from Kunming were free-range, fed on peafowl gardens in the zoos, but all peafowls from Banna were commercially raised in confinement in wired chambers, cats did not have access to the peafowl-housing area, but were known to defecate in the peafowl feed stored in open bins, and other felids such as bobcats and cougars kept captive in zoos may be potential shedders of T. gondii oocysts too [31] . Therefore, the feeding conditions and management of the peafowls and the infected felids in the living environment may be the main reasons attributed to this difference in different regions.