Seroepidemiology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Toxoplasma gondii</Emphasis> in pet dogs and cats in Beijing,China

Sera from 534 pet dogs and 335 pet cats from Beijing (China) were tested for anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or the latex agglutination test. The seropositivity by year, season, sex and age was analysed. Overall, 128 dogs (24.0%) and 50 cats (14.9%) had antibodies to T. gondii. When analysed by season, the highest seroprevalence was found in spring for dogs (31.3%) and cats (25.1%), and the differences in seroprevalence by season was statistically significant in cats (P<0.01) but not in dogs. The seroprevalence in male dogs (23.7%) and cats (15.1%) were slightly higher than their female counterparts (18.0% in dogs and 12.3% in cats). There was no obvious pattern of seropositivity or significant difference in different age groups in dogs or cats; nonetheless, a high proportion of dogs at 4 years of age were positive to T. gondii (31.8%) while cats with relatively high seropositivity rates were at 1 or 3.4 years of age (13.14%).