Cristina Germani Fialho

Detecção de anticorpos para Toxoplasma gondii em soro de suínos criados e abatidos em frigoríficos da região da grande Porto Alegre-RS, Brasil

This report objectived to contribuite with data about the antibodies occurence of Toxoplasma gondii in swine bred and slaughtered in the area of Great Porto Alegre- RS, Brazil. The data should supply with subsidies on the importance of this protozoan transmission through swines. Samples were taken from 240 swines at slaughterhouses in that region. The frequency of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies, determinanet through the indirect hemagglutination technic was of 20% of serum equal or superior to 1:64 dilution. In the indirect immunofluorescence technic was found 33.75% in serum with a diluition equal to 1:16 or superior.

Comparação da infecção por protozoários em chinchila (Chinchilla lanigera) de uma criação comercial do município de Viamão-RS, Brasil, e de chinchilas no seu habitat natural, Chile

is a rodent native to Chile which is bred for commercial purposes. Parasiticdiseases, mainly giardiasis, may cause clinical and sanitary problems and lead to production andeconomic losses. Fecal samples were collected from 220 chinchillas pertaining to a commercialbreeding facility in southern Brazil and from 35 chinchillas from Las Chinchillas National Reserve inChile. All samples were analyzed using the method proposed by Faust et al. Positive samples for

Protection in a hamster model of congenital toxoplasmosis.

Almost uniform protection against congenital toxoplasmosis initiated by inoculations with cysts and oocysts of the parasite was seen in the hamster model, among strains of different genotypes. Because the RH immunization prior to pregnancy has to be controlled with medication for most of the hamsters to survive, and also some congenital transmission of Toxoplasma was observed during the chronic stage of the infection, the hamster is considered less practical than the rat and the BALB/c mouse models. It is concluded that the hamster model closely resembles protection against congenital infection in nature, where most of the pregnant women and ewes that experienced a toxoplasma infection previously, protect their fetuses against an infection with the parasite during pregnancy.