Economic and public health considerations of congenital toxoplasmosis in lambs.

ABSTRACT

Congenital toxoplasmosis was diagnosed in a flock of Hampshire sheep in South Dakota. The 80 ewes produced 144 lambs, 30 of which were born dead; toxoplasmosis was diagnosed in 11 of the dead lambs. The remaining 114 lambs grew normally, but 68 (40.3%) had agglutinating Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. Modified agglutination test T gondii antibody titers for 114 lambs were less than 100 (n = 46), 64 (n = 2), 256 (n = 1), 1,024 (n = 12), and greater than or equal to 4,096 (n = 53). Tissues of 8 seropositive lambs were bioassayed for T gondii tissue cysts. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated from the tongue and lamb chops of 7, heart of 3, and legs of lamb of all 8 lambs.