Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Sweden and evaluation of ELISA test performance

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite, infecting a wide range of warm-blooded animals. The Swedish wild boar population is expanding and increased hunting provides its meat to a growing group of consumers. We performed a spatio-temporal investigation of T. gondii seroprevalence in Swedish wild boars. An ELISA was set up and evaluated against a commercial direct agglutination test, using Bayesian latent class analysis. The ELISA sensitivity and specificity were estimated to 79% and 85%, respectively. Of 1327 serum samples, 50% were positive. Thirty-four per cent of young wild boars and 55% of adults were positive (P<0·001). The total seroprevalence ranged from 72% in 2005 to 38% in 2011 (P<0·001), suggesting a declining trend. The highest seroprevalence, 65%, was recorded in South Sweden. In other regions it varied from 29% in Stockholm to 46% in East Middle Sweden.