First Report of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Common Quails (Coturnix coturnix) Intended for Human Consumption in Three Provinces of Northeastern China.

Abstract

Common quails are nutritious food and are also used as medicine in some parts of the world. Until now, no information on Toxoplasma gondii infection in common quails intended for human consumption in China is available. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection in common quails in six cities from Shandong, Liaoning, and Jilin provinces, China. Out of 620 common quails examined, 59 (9.52%) were seropositive for T. gondii by the modified agglutination test. T. gondii infection in male and female common quails was 8.10% and 10.71%, respectively. The highest prevalence (13.10%) was detected in a group of common quails from Rizhao of Shandong province, followed by common quails from Yantai of Shandong province (13.04%) and the lowest prevalence (5.56%) was detected in a group of common quails from Shenyang of Liaoning province. The results of this survey revealed the presence of T. gondii infection in common quails in China, indicating that common quails are a potential source for transmission of T. gondii to humans, therefore, posing a potential public health concern. To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. gondii infection in common quails in China.