Evaluating the Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Meat and Meat Products in Ahvaz by PCR Method

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate, intracellular parasite, which is widely spread in the world. The parasite is able to infect all warm-blooded hosts including human. The infection occures via consumption of food or water containing oocytes, eating undercooked meats containing tissue cysts, and placenta. Undercooked meat consumption is one of the most important ways of Toxoplasma transmission especially in pregnancy period. Raw and undercooked meats have been reported responsible for 50 % of congenital toxoplasmosis. Objectives: The current study was conducted to determine the prevalence of T. gondii in lamb and beef, and also meat products by molecular method in Ahvaz,southwest of Iran. Materials and Methods: Totally 190 samples were collected from local retailers in Ahvaz city. Samples of tongue, heart and muscle were taken from 50 lamb and 50 beef distributors and 90 meat product samples (sausages, hamburgers and salami, 30 samples of each). Collected samples were minced by electric meat grinder. DNA was extracted from 190 meat and meat product samples by Qiagen DNA Mini Kit. specific primers for the T. gondii B1 gene was used to detect the parasite in samples, by PCR method. Results: A total of seven lamb out of 50 (14 %) and two beef out of 50 (4 %) were found as positive for T. gondii cyst. The parasite was not isolated from any of the meat product samples. Conclusions: The detection of the parasite in slaughtered animals, indicated that the risk still exists for food-transmitted toxoplasmosis, and consumption of raw or undercooked meat can transmit the infection to human community.