An international team led by researchers from the University of Córdoba (UCO) has detected a "high spread" of Toxoplasma gondii , the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis in many species, in the areas where the Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) lives, including the captive breeding centers.
This work is not the first to analyze the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Iberian lynxes, but it is the most complete. The researchers analyzed 129 specimens of Iberian lynx through the modified agglutination technique (detection of antibodies against T. gondii from Iberian lynx serum), and detected antibodies in 62.8%, that is, in 81 of the 129 felines analyzed . In addition to observing that the seroprevalence of T. gondii increases with the age of the animals, the results show the same seroprevalence in wild lynxes (66.7% of 93 specimens) as in those subjected to captivity (69% of 84 copies).
Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease that mainly affects warm-blooded species, including the human species . The definitive hosts of this parasite are felines, the only animals capable of excreting the parasites through their feces. But the researchers have not detected elimination of these parasites "in any of the 58 samples of lynx feces analyzed"
