[The detection of Toxoplasma gondii in abortion tissues of sheep using the polymerase chain reaction]

A polymerase chain reaction was applied to detect Toxoplasma gondii DNA in placental and fetal tissue samples of 47 unselected ovine abortions of the lambing season 1990/91 (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland, Hesse). For the amplification a 190 bp or 223 bp sequence of the B1-gene of T. gondii was selected as the target sequence. Both sequences were detected in five abortions. All positive results were immunohistochemically confirmed using the peroxidase antiperoxidase technique (PAP-staining). Thus, in Germany, too, T. gondii infection in sheep during pregnancy should be considered as a possible cause of abortions, particularly in case of abortions of unknown genesis.