[Immunoepizootological study of ovine toxoplasmosis]

The authors examined for toxoplasmosis (by means of an indirect hemagglutination reaction) 698 sheep kept in different places in Bulgaria. Out of this total number, 217 (= 31.1%) responded positively to the tests. In sheep delivering stillborn foetuses the positive response was much more frequent (43.3%) than in sheep with normal parturitions (21.0%). Sheep from montane regions showed a significantly higher positivity (40.3%) than sheep from lowland regions (18.3%). Three cystogenic strains of Toxoplasma gondii were isolated from six stillborn lambs. Out of the 493 sheep examined in Czechoslovakia, 33.3% gave a positive response in an indirect hemagglutination reaction, 29.7% responded in an indirect fluorescence reaction, and 11.6% in a microprecipitation reaction in agar gel. Attention is drawn to the epizootological and economic importance of the study of ovine toxoplasmosis.