Short Reports Low Prevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii DNA in the Fresh Milk of Cattle in China

Abstract Background: It is generally recognized that there is a risk for humans to acquire toxoplasmosis through consumption of raw milk from infected animals. Although several studies have been conducted to detect the seroprevalence of T. gondii in cattle in China, no study has been conducted to detect T. gondii DNA in milk of cattle in China. Thus, the present study was firstly conducted to explore the prevalence of T. gondii DNA in fresh milk of cattle in China. Results: A total of 2092 blood samples and fresh bovine milk were collected from six provinces between January 2018 and June 2019, respectively, and examined by ELISA and semi-nested PCR, respectively. In total, 123/2092 (5.88%) of the blood samples and 22/2092 (1.05%) of the milk samples were positive for T. gondii, respectively. Fifteen of these 22 positive milk samples (68.18%) were animals who also recorded serologically positive. Moreover, cattle and milk from family farming have significantly higher T. gondii prevalence than those from commercial farm. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. gondii DNA was found in the fresh milk of cattle in China, suggesting that the consumption of raw milk from seropositive cattle could be a potential source of human infection.