{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T23:31:56Z","timestamp":1790033516035,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1651104000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii<\/jats:italic> can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans and dogs. Humans can become infected with <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> by petting dogs that have eaten or contacted infected cat feces. The aim of this study was to evaluate <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> infections in dogs from central China. From 2015 to 2021, a total of 536 dog samples (195 fecal, 81 hearts, and 260 serum samples) from Henan Province were collected. Heart juice or serum samples (n = 341) were tested for <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> antibodies using the modified agglutination test (MAT). Fresh myocardium (n = 6) and blood (n = 2) samples were bioassayed in mice.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The present study showed that 4.40% (15\/341) of the dogs were seropositive for <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> by MAT (cut-off, 1:25) and 4.10% (8\/195) of dog feces contained <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> DNA. No <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> DNA was found in any myocardium (n = 81) or blood (n = 2) samples. The viable <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> strain was not isolated from any myocardium or blood samples (n = 8). Compared to the prevalence of <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> antibodies in dogs sampled from 2015 to 2018, the prevalence significantly declined from 2020 to 2021 (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05). Gender and age were not risk factors for dogs infected with <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> in this study. However, compared to other sources, dogs from Zhoukou City (close to the Yellow River) or from pet shops showed significantly higher prevalence for <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.05).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 4.29% dogs were infected by <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> (23\/536, 8 of 195 fecal samples, 2 of 260 serum, and 13 of 81 heart juice samples). This is the first survey of <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> infection in dog feces from China. Dogs were exposed to <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic>, and they could act as mechanical transmitters of <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2022.885348","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]],"date-time":"2022-04-28T16:12:54Z","timestamp":1651162374000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Low Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Dogs From Central China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Niuping","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liulu","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shilin","family":"Xin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yibao","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yurong","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1373","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpara.2006.07.010","article-title":"Transmission of Toxoplasma gondii in an Urban Population of Domestic Cats (Felis Catus)","volume":"36","author":"Afonso","year":"2006","journal-title":"Int. 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