Parasitology & Microbes

Biography

Biography: Zuhaier Dardona

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is the parasitic disease which caused by a coccidian intracellular obligate parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. Modes of transmitting T. gondii are numerous, though, the most recognized and important method in which T. gondii could be transmitted is through ingestion of either oocysts or tissue cysts. Given this, the focus of the present study was detect the prevalence of T. gondii oocysts which is the Environmental infectious stage, in soil and water through the use of sheather’s solution and PCR techniques in Gaza- Palestine. For this purpose, 290 environmental samples were collected whereby 200 of which were from soil and 90 were water samples. More specifically, soil samples were collected from five sites, which were Wadi-Gaza, Near trash dumpsters, residential house yards, open-air markets, public squares and gardens. Meanwhile, water samples were also collected from Wadi-Gaza, which is a water stream stretching through Gaza, wells used for drinking and irrigation and lastly from the city’s main sewage treatment plant. Samples were collected from sites where cats, the main vehicle carrying oocyst, have been recognized to draw frequent appearance. The results of the present study  revealed that from the 290 environmental samples collected, 22 (7.58%) and 31 (10.68%) of samples were in fact contaminated according to the test methods of PCR and Sheather’s solution, respectively. The results also revealed an interesting relationship between the prevalence rate of T. gondii detected in the samples and the site source from which the samples were collected. The highest rate of contamination detected were from samples collected from residential house yards, while public squares and gardens represented the lowest rate. Moreover, 26 (13%) from the 200 soil samples pool were contaminated according to the Sheather’s solution method, while under the PCR, 18 (9.99%) samples were contaminated. On the other hand, only 4 (4.44%) from the 90 water samples reported contamination using PCR, and 5 (5.55%) according to Sheather’s solution. Regarding the prevalence of contamination in water samples, only samples collected from Wadi-Gaza reported contamination levels, while water samples collected from other sites were free of contamination. Lastly, the results of the present study reported that the relationship between the prevalence of oocyst contamination and site source from which the samples were collected was statistically significant. Meanwhile, the relationship between oocyst contamination of sample and month in which they were collected was not