The impact of environmental factors on the spatial distribution of the Toxoplasma gondii antibody frequency in rodents using geographical information system (GIS) software in Golestan Province, Iran

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Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic protozoan parasite that can infect human and warm-blooded animals and is so frequent in the North of Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between environmental factors and T.gondii antibody frequency in rodents of Golestan Province. During winter 2015, a total of 124 Mus musculus were captured by handmade traps. Blood sample were collected from heart, and after separation of the sera, T.gondii antibody was analyzed by modified agglutination test (MAT). Relation between T.gondii antibody frequency with temperature, precipitation and humidity was surveyed with GIS in ArcGIS and Idrisi Selva 10.3 software. The highest T.gondii frequency was observed in Gorgan with a 78% the average humidity, 551 the annual average rainfall and 12.5°C average temperature. The GIS results showed that from the tree main factors that was analyzed, temperature and humidity had the must effect on the spatial distribution of the T.gondii antibody frequency in sampled rodents. The positive relationship between T.gondii frequency, rainfall, humidity and the negative relationship between temperature and T.gondii antibody frequency could be explained by the fact that oocysts have a longer viability in damp soil, and also the high population of T.gondii hosts in regions with high rainfall and humidity.
 

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