ABSTRACT

The current serologic and molecular research work was designated to reassess endemicity of Toxoplasma (T.) gondii which is reckoned a ubiquitous zoonotic protozoan among aborted women, ewes, and does in Erbil, the Kurdistan region of Iraq. To meet the requirements of the survey, 80 aborted women, who attended both Maternity Teaching Hospitals in Erbil and Soran, were examined serologically and molecularly from November, 2021 to Abril, 2022. Moreover, 55 aborted ewes, and 30 aborted does were chosen in afore-mentioned cities at the same period and tested serologically and molecularly as well. The seroprevalence of the parasite demonstrated that 18/80 (22.5%) of aborted women had anti-toxoplasma IgG and the rest were negative. On the other hand, 4/80 (5%) women were harbors of anti-toxoplasma IgM and the rest were negative. Furthermore, the seroprevalence of the parasite demonstrated that 13/55 (23.63%) of aborted ewes had anti-toxoplasma IgG and the rest were negative. On the other hand, 2/55 (3.63%) ewes were harbors of anti-toxoplasma IgM and the rest were negative. Despite that, the seroprevalence of the parasite demonstrated that 8/30 (26.66%) of aborted does had anti-toxoplasma IgG and the rest were negative. On the other hand, 1/30 (3.33%) does were harbors of anti-toxoplasma IgM and the rest were negative. The occurrence of amplification of fragment was 100% of the toxoplasma samples. As well as, the expected patterns were provided in the samples with T. gondii. The result showed that the Toxoplasma species (Women 1, Ewes 2, and Doe 1) was 100% and ewes 12, does 7 were 99.9% homologous to T. gondii under the accession number (KX270387 and MK704513) due to nucleotide substitution (A → G) at the position of 207.